KH3 Another side, Another Story 2
by rikufanattic
Summary: Chapter IX up. What began and continued in the previous installments comes here. Sora's gang and Riku's gang are in the world of Beyond Good and Evil. Full summary inside, this is unbetaed
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** Once again I'd like to say, thank you, and welcome. Whether you're an old reader, or a new one, thanks in advance. This is the third and final installment to the Another Side Another Story novel.

**Summary:** It's been weeks since the event of the second happening within Castle Oblivion, and things are really looking up for everyone. Still as darkness looms around there will always be a need for the Keyblade, but that's something that doesn't bother them at all, they're the new dawn, but it's going to be a very long and dangerous night. Will the sun be able to rise up?

**Title: **KH3 Another Side, Another Story 2

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything related to Square Enix at all, and if I did, well I'd be the happiest person in the world. I own, Amaterasu, Ames, Abedo (the concept) and Vieh the wolf, I do not own Xejicka because she's the concept of the author, Xejicka. I do own the members of 2 through 10, and that's it.

**Chapter I:** The Storm

A brown hare figure yawned watching the change of scenery through the tall window of one of the rooms. It was still the same shade of white it had always been, and his absence had done nothing to change it. The figure rubbed his eyes lazily hearing the sound of strings echo through the white hallways. He chuckled, and turned over in his bed staring up at the white ceiling. He could see faint traces of dried brown paste, he had tried to plaster glow-in-the-dark stars in the past, but that came out horribly. He closed his eyes and tried to relax, thinking of all the new possibilities that would most likely come their way.

Upstairs a young figure wearing dark hued Capri shorts, and a light colored shirt with designs of a crown and Heartless emblem on, was busy drawing things that crept into her mind. She tapped something on the white colored table and like magic a screen was produced out of thin air, the light projection gave it a transparent feel. She tapped something on the table, letting the keyboard light up and sighed in content. '_33 restored and running,_' she thought smiling. '_It's been two weeks, and they're recovering faster… I wonder if they're helping one another,_' it was a thought that plagued her mind.

Ames, the Memory Witch, sighed dispatching the projected status report, and leaned back in her chair, trying to stretch her muscles for a while. She closed her eyes and breathed in slowly. Ames knew their secrets, their hopes and fears, she knew everything about them inside and out. Still there was one memory that made the insides envy the bond the two shared. '_It goes beyond the call of a friend,_' she thought smiling sadly. The brown skinned adolescent was the mirror image of a young individual by the name of Amaterasu Diaz. Though Ames chose to become her own person creating the illusion of having silver hair, and blue eyes.

Being what she was, she now had the appearance of a twenty year old, and the others within the vicinity did as well, to keep up with the outside world. The silver hared youth paused putting her drawing instrument down. The door stationed in back of her opened slowly, and a man with a hairstyle between a mullet and a Mohawk walked in holding a tray of food. His green eyes stared at the closed pods for a moment and then traveled to the sitting Memory Witch. The man chuckled softly and walked graciously to the white table, he flowed just like his element. The man wore a sleeveless collared V-shirt with the roman numeral symbol 'IX' in blue stitching on the back, a black sash over his right shoulder, with blue jeans, and a pair of black boots.

"Just thought you might be hungry." The man spoke with such kindness, it made the Memory witch smile. "You like a mess," he said pulling up a chair. He sat on the chair in an unusual manner, sitting Indian style, wit his elbows propped up on the table, his chin resting on his hands. "So, you've been drawing this whole time then?" to which the witch nodded in response. "You really are something." The man said giving her a big smile. His green eyes watched as her colored hand reached for a piece of a cut turkey sandwich, and she stuffed half of it in her mouth, chewing slowly. Not once did she take her blue eyes off of the drawing.

Ames sighed, with still half an eaten sandwich hanging from her closed mouth. Her fingers brushed against the drawing. The man with the green eyes examined the drawing noticing that it was of a teen with unusual hair, fighting against someone with a blindfold. The setting seemed dark, and several buildings looked vaguely familiar to him. The words 'Roxas vs. Riku' were written on the top. She discarded the sketchbook, pushing towards him, as she continued to eat the food that was on the tray. The man flipped through the book and rested his hand against one page. '_13 thrones,_' he traced a finger to his chair and laughed. Flipping through more pages he looked at a woman that held a scarf, and a man with 13 spears floating through the air, with a sword that seemed to be stabbed into the ground. Another page, and the words 'Family' caught his attention, four teenage males, two teenage females, and a mother and father stationed right behind them.

"The rest are personal memories," Ames said softly placing her hand gently on the sketchbook, and man frowned and released his grip on the page. "Xehart, did you know he once gave up his own body just to restore one girl's heart," she paused taking the sketchbook back in her possession. "It's amazing how far the love from one human being o another is." The Memory Witch smiled. "These two," both of the individuals looked at the closed pods, "they're got something special."

"You mean, like love?" Xehart asked shifting slightly in his chair, like a child.

Ames nodded. "But not as in boy and girl. No…" she paused. "More like family, love comes and goes but not family. He made her a special promise." the Memory Witch felt tears form and shook her head, out of embarrassment.

Her stomach growled, and she uttered something of surprise while Xehart laughed. The _Melodious Nocturne_ excused himself and said that he would return with more food, and once again Ames was all alone. The Memory Witch sighed, closing her mind for a moment. "You guys must be bored in there…"

With her red and black checkered shoes she pressed a button near a small device, and music emitted from it, echoing throughout Castle Oblivion. She smiled and got up from her white chair, and decided to take a stroll around the castle for a while.

**Destiny Islands**

A Keyblade flew through the air and was stabbed into the ground by the opponent. A female overlooked the match and announced the winner. There was another girl there who rushed to the fallen wielder's aid and sighed. The fallen opponent summoned back his Keyblade and looked up at the other opponent, what he lacked in size made up for his power and speed in battle. The winner grinned and helped the challenger to his feet.

"Good match, Riku." The winner said as the two shook hands. The two females sighed in relief, a little competition never did hurt anybody, but sometimes these two didn't know the meaning of the sentence 'I give up'.

"I almost had you that time, Ven…" Riku said sitting back down on to the sand textured ground in exhaustion. It had been some time now since Ventus and the other teen, by the name of Aqua, arrived on the islands.

Ventus, or his nickname, Ven, was a blonde hared teen who was slightly shorter than Riku. He wore a grey shirt with blue shorts. Strangely enough he held a striking resemblance to someone by the name of 'Roxas'. The way his blonde hared was shaped and his eyes, it was enough to send chills down Kairi and Riku's spine. The other teen by the name of Aqua, who was the same height as Ventus, had short blue hair and matching blue eyes with a pair of earrings. She wore a simple looking green shirt with blue jeans.

Riku, an eighteen year old adolescent with silver hair, who wore a white and black colored shirt with black shorts, sat up against a sturdy trunk of a tall healthy palm tree. Its mighty green leaves swayed alongside the ocean breeze. Kairi, a seventeen year old female with red hair, sat down next to Riku and Aqua, sighing in relief about the outcome of the match. Ventus yawned, leaning against the back side of the trunk away from the other three people.

"Hey Kairi," the blue hared female turned her head looking at the red hared girl. "Tell us that story. The one your grandmother told you."

Kairi smiled, and pulled her legs closer to her body. She was wearing a white colored dress, the edges were trimmed to give off a triangular shape, and underneath it was a separate style that was of a light pink hue down to the knee. Her shoes slid against the sand, the main body of the shoe was white, with bands of pink and red running across from it. Hey blue eyes looked up at the slightly clouded heavens and she opened her mouth:

"Long ago, the world was united and filled with warm light. The people, they loved the light, but they eventually began fighting over it…"

This part always made Ventus flinch, but Kairi was unaware and continued:

"Then, the darkness found its way into people's hearts. Darkness consumed the hearts and light of the people, and in a flash it spread… the world disappeared into the darkness…"

Riku looked down at his hands as their reaction consisted of clenching the sand tightly. For some reason he just couldn't let it go, no matter how hard he tried, despite being forgiven. Still Kairi continued:

"But a glimmer of light remained in the hearts of children… children gathered their glimmers of light, and recreated the world. The recreated world however was no longer united…" she said softly. "It was divided into several smaller worlds. Because the true light was still hidden within the darkness…" Kairi finished the story and exhaled loudly. She closed her eyes, and it brought back something, a memory…

_The sound of the shore was crystal clear to her, and the soft sand was underneath her. The sun was right about her, and there was an ocean breeze. A young girl was lying on the shore, fast asleep, in a white and pink dress, with matching shoes. 'I'm supposed to look for someone… someone who I don't know yet. But how will I find that person? Can I find that someone, and why?' thoughts were running through the child's head, unaware of anything but the surroundings around her. She closed her eyes, taking in the touch of the sand, and breeze against her skin._

"_Find him…" she repeated to herself. "Find the key…" again the red hared girl spoke. "But… I'm all alone, even Granny isn't here." She said sadly, and told herself that big girls didn't cry. "Okay, I'll find him… but…" the girl was tired, and the heat from the sun wasn't helping her, and before long she was asleep._

_Slipping in and out of consciousness the girl could faintly hear a voice. 'I'm supposed to go back with the mayor and his wife…' the little thought with her eyes still closed. She heard another pair of footsteps, they got louder and louder, which meant someone was walking towards her._

"_Who… are you?" a voice asked, and she opened her eye slowly. Whoever the voice belonged too, she was glad that the person was blocking the sun from her face. The girl looked up and noticed the spiky tufts of brown hair and blue eyes. "Where did you come from?" the boy asked._

"_Me?" she asked, slowly sitting up and rubbing her eyes. "My name… it's Kairi!" the girl yawned. She remembered that her grandmother and the mayor reminded her not to talk to strangers, but for some reason this boy didn't seem like a stranger to her. The boy had asked her if she slept on the beach, and she nodded, and he asked her why. "I was tired… and well I'm here waiting for someone."_

"_Yeah?" the boy asked with curiosity sitting right next to her. "Well have you found that person?"_

_Kairi shook her head and sighed. "Maybe he'll be here tomorrow. I've got to go home now." with that she picked herself up and skipped down the shoreline, heading to the sidewalk and up a slight hill._

"_Hey that's where the mayor lives!" the boy deduced, and smiled. "She's the girl from the meteor shower then! Wait till Riku hears this!" the boy jeered, and punched the air in glee._

The red hared individual smiled at the memory and looked at the others for a moment. "Riku, shouldn't you be at practice now?" she asked looking at the silver hared youth, he seemed to be lost in thought. He jumped slightly, and his turquoise eyes looked at the girl for a moment and thought about it.

"Damn!" Riku said getting up quickly, and ran down the shoreline. "Thanks Kairi! I'll see you guys later!" with that Riku ran down the area, and onto the sidewalk, where his bike was stationed and rode off down the street.

"I'm amazed, he's still able to run after that match, let alone ride his bicycle…" Ventus said looking off into the distance, until the silver hared adolescent was out of sight. Aqua giggled and peered to the other side of the trunk, Ventus was smiling.

"You went easy on him." Aqua said softly, and Ventus flinched looking at her slightly. "Is it because he reminds you of Terra?" she asked softly, noticing Ventus scowl slightly and looked away for a moment or two.

Kairi thought back to the name, Terra. She had heard bits and pieces from both Ventus and Aqua to know that he was a Keyblade wielder as well. Though something plagued her thoughts for some reason. Her blue eyes looked at the smiling individual, this girl by the name of Aqua. Kairi had never once seen her Keyblade, and yet she told stories that seemed to be older than her. '_Just who are they? Why does he have a Keyblade, and why did Ven call Way to Dawn his?_' all these questions and more plagued her mind, but she knew that later one they would be answered.

The red hared Princess of Heart knew that Aqua was skilled in magic, which the blue hared teen said was on par with someone who they knew. Aqua had mastered the fourth level of all the spells that she and Sora knew, but they never once conjured them. The blue hared female had taken the time to train Kairi, and she was doing well, by the compliments that Ventus had given her. Aqua had told her that there was someone who was trying to get back to her, but Kairi didn't know who it was, but it must have been someone important to her, because every time she tried to think back to that person she felt something warm strike her heart.

"You think he'll be back, Kairi?" Ventus asked, making Kairi jump at the sudden question. The blonde hared teen grinned and looked up at the sky. '_No storm, maybe things will get better, or maybe this is just the beginning of the calm before the storm…_' the blonde hared individual thought, sighing indifferently. He felt his body stiffen up slightly hearing Kairi answer his question.

"I… I don't…" the teen paused for a moment and hugged her knees closer to her body. "I don't even know what he looks like," Kairi began softly and looked away from Aqua's gaze. "But, something in my heart tells me that he would cross the ends of the universe to come back… it's funny," she chuckled to herself. "I don't even know his name…"

"You want a hint?" the other two asked grinning amongst themselves. Kairi frowned feeling as though they were trying to play with her head. "You're a smart girl…" aqua said patting the red hared teen. "You'll figure it out…" Ventus said starting to walk across the sands.

"Where are you going?" Aqua asked getting up and dusting herself off slightly. "Ventus!" she whined watching him retreat somewhere. "…Ven…" she sighed and huffed. "Darn jerk…" she said rubbing the back of her head. "Hey Kairi… you want to get something to eat?"

**Back in Castle Oblivion**

A twenty-two year old youth by the name of Terra let his fingers glide across the ivory keys of a device called a piano letting the music flow from the sheets he read with such mastery. His body may have been new, but his heart was old in the sense of time, not age as others have grown accustom to. Another person, by the name of Xejicka sat across from him taking n the chords that rang out for a while, and frowned when the other person hit a sour chord, he did it on purpose.

"She's coming…" he said softly.

It was too soft for Xejicka's liking though, as he had a bad habit of doing that, forcing her to lean forward. '_You'd think he'd be a bit louder…_' she thought as her ears caught the sound of his voice. Why in the world did he speak so softly to her? Or how come when Ames speaks to her she's loud, but not with Terra? '_No… Wait could that be why? That sly dog!_' she snickered to herself, some random idea entered through her head.

"What's so funny?" Terra asked, his voice was a bit louder this time.

The female grown-up decided to stop and scrunched up her face. "I was thinking about something…"

"About?" he pressed into the matter, letting his fingers pay a melody out of the memory from his heart.

"About this old story I read a long time ago…" she lied, she was able to mask such false tales with ease, and it almost didn't seem funny anymore. "It was about this guy… Oh never mind, it's not even worth telling…" she said hearing the door open softly. Xejicka spun around in her chair and looked at the female who wore a light colored shirt, with dark hued Capri shorts. "Our favorite little Memory Witch, so how goes the reconstruction?" she asked in that chirpy voice of hers.

"All right, I suppose…" she said rubbing the back of her head. That chirpy voice of the twenty year old, was enough to make a drunken person clasp their ears in pain as their head throbbed. Still Ames had grown use to it, and so did the others within their once working organization. "I want you two to do something for me…" she said softly, placing her hands together. "Find me a good place to dump them there."

"Dump…? You know they aren't trash Ames…" the female paused for a moment. "Why not just use Amber Pacific?" Xejicka asked, she had beat Terra to the punch. "It's been working before."

"I don't know if his Majesty can make it there on time…" Ames said pulling up a chair and sitting on it. She titled her chair back and looked up at the white ceiling with the messy stains of glue on them. "So until I get a letter from him, I want the two of you to go and hunt down some possible locations…"

Terra thought about it, searching through the memories of his own heart, and he paused for a moment. "What about that other place…" he said speaking up. "You know that resting area in the End of the World?"

"With Heartless crawling around? No way, we'd be a walking free meal for them, Terri!" Xejicka said throwing her hands up rage. "You want us to lose our hearts?" Terra flinched slightly hearing the word 'Terri', that's what they called him in the old days, since Terra sounded like a feminine name.

Ames sighed and looked at the two of them frowning. Good help was hard to find in this day and age, but she knew that despite the two acting like their old selves, they were good helpers. She insisted again that the two of them go out and look for a place instead of talking amongst themselves like that. It was strange to the other two, since Ames had told them before that she didn't want to leave the castle, but something didn't seem right with her now. Though, out of respect, they decided to go and walk out of the room.

"You think she's afraid?" Terra asked as the two of them made it out of the room and down the slightly bleak hallway.

Xejicka shrugged and looked back, noticing someone else run in their direction. The figure wore a black coat just like Xejicka and Terra, but he seemed to be taller than them despite his current age. He went by the name of Abedo, a replica created from a Soulless by the name of Shimasax, Abedo was meant to represent Terra, but the replica had a soul of his own, thus not acting at all like his original. The twenty-two year old, by the name of Terra had brown air, styled in an unusual way, with blue eyes.

"Upstairs…" the replica panted, holding a weapon by the name of 'Soul Eater' in his grasp. "N…Nobodies…" Abedo said straining to open his eyes. "By the entrance to the pods…"

"Did you fight them off?" Xejicka asked as all three of them ran in the opposite direction to where the two Keyblade Wielders slept. Abedo had explained to them, as soon as Ames had left for that spilt second he had sensed something. He had gone upstairs and found several Dusks and Dancer type Nobodies roaming the hallway in search of something.

"I fought them off…" Abedo said as all three of them ran up a set of white stairs. It brought back memories that were still fresh in their minds. Xejicka summoned her chakram, and they appeared in her grasp in a display of fire, and Terra summoned his weapon' Two Across', a Keyblade that was modeled after the former thirteenth member of the Organization. "But more came…"

The doors burst open on the last explanation, and all three of them scanned the area. Terra ran forward, and blocked an oncoming attack. A chakram flew through the air, colliding with the head of a Dancer type Nobody, sending it flying back to the crowd of the other gathered Nobodies. The light pastel colored creature, that was the Dance Nobody, moved about in a series of kicks and movement that could only be described as ice skating. Abedo ran forward wasting no time and jumped into the crowd of Nobodies. Terra noticed that in the distance several of the creatures were trying to reach the door, but a strange barrier was holding them back.

"We've worked too hard…" the other Keyblade wielder said gripping his weapon tightly and running forward, mustering enough force to cut two Nobodies down to size. Xejicka was off in the distance toying around with several of them, making them crash into each other, before sending a ball of fire in their direction. The sound of metal zipping by was the result of the circular weapons in Xejicka's grasp, the sharp edged weapons spun through the air with deadly force. Terra moved his arms upward, cutting several Nobodies from the shockwave of his Keyblade, and the beings disappeared in an array of white and black jagged ribbons of the sort.

Abedo was dodging attacks quickly and kicked a Nobody squarely in the face with ease and watched it fall back. A Dancer Nobody took the advantage and hoisted the replica into the air, and sent him falling back down with a kick to the abdomen region. The replica winced and recovered, flipping over and landing on his feet like a cat. More Dancer Nobodies circled around him, trying to intimidate him some more. The replica moved with speed, and slide across the white tiled floors, dodging the menacing hands of the Dancer types. He noticed a chakram that missed his nose by an inch, and the metallic object rammed into a nearby Nobody. He noticed that two Dancer Nobodies were moving closer to the fire wielder.

Xejicka spun around, as if she were dancing, moving with the grace that her own element gave her, she was unpredictable for now. The chakram in her command moved with the swift movements of her black gloved hands. A Dusk wriggled around her nad lunged forward with it's claw like hand drawn back, ready to strike down with force. A chakram spinning with fire reached the opposing Nobody and set it aflame, and sliced its arm clean off. The hazel eyed female turned around and noticed two other pastel colored Nobodies closing in on her. She didn't have enough time to act on the weapons at hand, and within an instant two distorted circular balls of dark energy collided with the two Nobodies, rendering them back from whence they came.

Terra and Abedo sighed in relief, and looked around, for some reason the Nobodies were starting to retreat, summoning a strange white and black bordered portal. Xejicka stopped with her display of fire, and looked around. The Dancer and Dusk types were starting to move back slowly, as if fearing something. They each blinked at one another and looked around, so far no one was there to their knowledge. Xejicka and Abedo scratched their heads in bewilderment and soon the barrage of Nobodies disappeared quickly. Around the white hallway there was an eerie silence, and within seconds a pair of footsteps broke the strange spell of stillness. A familiar silver hared female walked up the long and white winding stairs.

"Uh…" the female tilted her head holding a sandwich filled with mustard. The hallway looked a mess, and a column in the distance had fallen several minutes ago. The Memory Witch blinked and looked around, before biting into the sandwich for a moment. "What happened?" she asked finally swallowing that tasty piece of that turkey and mustard delicacy.

"Ames…" the replica began to speak clearing his throat slightly. "Nobodies entered this area a moment ago…" he said looking back at the others for reassurance. Their weapons had withdrawn to their side in a moment of rest. Xejicka and Terra nodded looking back at the silver hared individual.

She moved around slowly in a large circular path taking her time while munching on the piece of bread. Her blue eyes looked up and tried to catch residue of something that couldn't be detected by the naked eye but she found nothing. The Memory Witch sighed heavily, and bit into her piece of food once more frowning at the fact that she found nothing interesting.

"Also, before I forget…" she finally spoke turning on her heels to face them. "I made you guys something to eat." She looked at the replica and at Terra, they looked identical, but she could sense the difference in their 'energy' so to speak. "Also, Abedo…" the replica made a slight indication that he heard her, and she continued:

"I want you to go with Xejicka and Terra, they're doing an errand for me." She finished and walked back into the pod room, opening the door with easy and strolling inside.

'_She makes it seem like this is going to be a walk in the park…_' Xejicka thought placing her chakram in back of her, as she stretched for a moment. She scratched her right cheek and sighed, letting her hand rest on the crest of the Nobodies that was inked onto the right side of her cheek. '_This isn't exactly how I wanted to spend my free time,_' the chakram wielder thought looking back at the other two individuals before her.

Within the pod room Ames noticed the wielder of the sitar and the element of water staring longingly at the two closed flower-bud like pods. Number IX turned around slightly frowning at the fact the Memory Witch was eating.

"Good thing I came back," Xehart said pulling up a chair for himself, watching the silver hared individual sit in her assigned seat. "They're warning you, Memory Witch." The _Melodious Nocturne _said letting an apparition of water dance about the area of the pod room. "I think the Superior is starting to look deeper into the object… He most likely knows you're a threat."

"If he already knew that, why hasn't he gotten rid of me?" she asked setting her sandwich down momentarily. "You know as well as I do he isn't so forgiving." Ames said crossing her legs slightly and looked back at the two pods, the brave Keyblade wielders of light and darkness slept in there to regain their memories.

Xehart tried to think of an answer, but nothing could come to mind. "For right now, Xejicka and I are still considered part of the Organization," the wielder of water said, letting the apparition disappear quickly. "I wouldn't hold it against you if you didn't trust us."

"That's what the Superior wants, that I'm most sure of, but I do trust the two of you…" she said softly looking down at her lap. "For right now, all we can do is just fall back into our original selves, and just wait for the tides to change, wouldn't you agree?" she asked looking up at the man, as he tilted back in his chair for a moment.

"I suppose so…" Xehart said sighing for a moment and stood up. "But Xejicka and I won't be around much longer to protect you from the Heartless and Nobodies." The man with the strange hairdo said walking down the room, and his hand rested on the white colored doorknob.

"That's why I have Terra and Abedo…" she said moving her hands slightly, letting them rest on the top of her head. Ames was starting to get a bit bored staying within the boundaries of the castle herself.

"Abedo may leave, he is after all somewhat human… But Terra… he'll feel torn from his heart. Jackie and you are the only two people he cares about now." Xehart said sadly for a moment.

Ames heard the footsteps of the _Melodious Nocturne_ fade into the distance, and she opened up her sketchbook, taking in the drawings that were sketched from memory…

---  
There was one group of three friends, who lived on a place called Destiny Islands. If you think about it, it's really a fitting name for the beginning of their journey, they all met by destiny, believe it or not, but I'm sure the reader already knew that.

Two teen boys, and one teenage girl. The oldest, at 15 years of age was a silver hared boy named Riku, he was cool and confident, from what he remembers. Then there was another 14 year old boy, Sora, who had his hair brown spiked up and had blue eyes. Last, but not least, was a girl by the name of Kairi, at the tender age of 14, just like Sora. She had recollection of the past, but was glad to have made the best friends any girl could've made.

Their journey was simple, to be honest, but I guess destiny had other plans for all of them, and it happened to pick the most exciting day of their lives. To be honest, they were still kids, they were _far too_ young to have such a task bestowed on the, but I am but a humble servant of time, so I can't really say anything about that. Now to go back to the topic at hand, if you already didn't know…

Those lines:

'So much to do, so little time. The door is still shut. Take it easy, don't be sacred…'

It's something that's plagued his heart for so long, and yet he manages to smile, and we're glad about that, though I'm digressing, so back to the explanation:

They built a raft to travel to other worlds, as any child would do, being bored on their tiny little group of islands. But, one day a stormed hit, and things went crazy from there, can you believe it? Of course you can, what am I saying?

Somewhere, very, very, very, very, very, _far, far, away_ there was a king in search of a 'key'. From the memories of his good advisors, he wrote:

'Dear Donald,

Please forgive me for leaving so suddenly but trouble is brewing, and there's no time to lose. I'm not sure why, but the stars have been blinking out… one by one. Hate to leave you, but I have to check this out… As the king, I have a favor to ask of you and Goofy… There's someone out there with a key – the key to our survival. I need you and Goofy to find him and stick with him! Got it? Without that key… we're doomed…'

At the same time, what many don't know, was that there was a girl by the name of Amaterasu, and her family, which consisted of one older sister, and two younger brothers, and two older brothers. Because of a dispute between partners of the past, they decided to use the dark terminal, within the End of the World, to travel about worlds the way the Heartless did, which was no small feat, taking a toll on the hearts of those who were pure. At the time of the Heartless invasion they simply stood their ground, and let their still, fresh and new home, get swallowed by the darkness, sensing the new Keyblade Master…

Off in the distance the other islanders were off minding their own business, doing whatever it was children and grownups did on their weekend nights.

In the distance there was a teen with turquoise eyes that looked off into the distance, lost in though for some reason, something was coming, and his heart knew it.

"The door is opening…" he said softly to himself, stepping onto the white balcony of his home. The waves were crashing against the shore, and it looked like a storm was about to take over their calm islands.

Kairi was off gathering materials for their raft, and thought that the guys would do the same, but boy was she wrong. Sora was off in his secret hideout, looking at the drawings that they had done. Tidus, Selphie, and Wakka didn't know about it, but they had always wanted to explore the little cave hidden behind the leaves.

Sora sighed and looked at the drawings for a moment, taking it into his heart all the wonderful memories that were stored within the drawings of the whole area. One memory in fact caught my attention… Wait, did I say **my?** I meant _**his**_ attention… Back to the recollection at hand…

"This is Riku's and my secret place!" a brave little boy said standing up to the only girl who thought he was awesome. The little boy blushed slightly and shook his head.

"Wow, that's cool!" the girl said running around the area, touching the rock textured walls with awe, and smiling feeling some of the chalk brush onto her fingers. The boy with spiky hair blushed, and finally caved in after what seemed like hours, but they were only seconds in the eyes of others.

"Kairi, I'll let you in because you're special!" the boy said the blush was apparent on his face, but the girl didn't seem to mind one bit.

"Thanks, Sora!" the girl said, and before anyone knew they were drawing the other's face on the rock wall.

Back to the present where the soon to be Keyblade Master was, he picked up a rock, and decide to do something before they got ready to leave in the morning. He drew an arm, extending to the one who would receive the drawn paopu fruit. It was there, that one voice would change everything for them…

---  
Ames sighed and closed the sketchbook, and the memoirs she had written using Naminé's book and that of her own. She had decided that the world needed to know the keepers of light and darkness, since no real records of them were recorded in a while. The current Memory Witch knew that Abedo and the others were having more than a difficult time finding a place for Amaterasu and Sora, every place seemed to hostile at this point.

Truth be told the Memory Witch just wanted some time alone to think, and gather her thoughts, everything seemed to be going according to plan, from what an ancient artifact had foretold years ago in her lifetime. Ames placed her left hand down, she had a bad habit of tapping whatever she had at hand on the table or on something that made noise. Memories of Sora and of the girl were running through her head, like crazy.

"I wonder if this was how you felt Naminé?" she asked herself saying loudly and staring up at the white colored ceiling. The color was starting to annoy her, everywhere she went white greeted her eyesight, it seemed so empty within the crumbling Castle Oblivion.

For not the Memory Witch had to say put, within the walls of this room, if she even dared to set foot outside the room most likely the Superior would have Nobodies and Heartless running around, trying to go and abduct the two Keyblade wielders.

**Traverse Town**

"You are a horrible pilot…" a voice said growling for a moment.

"Yeah well you didn't hear anything from me when we almost crashed into that asteroid belt…" a female voice said, sounding relaxed for some reason.

"You guys…"

"Oh and I suppose that, that little detour to Agrabah was just for a pit stop…" a male voice said sounding a bit annoyed.

"Come on you two knock it off…" another voice said, it sounded almost identical to another voice

"You were the one who said that we were out of gas, which was a lie, gummi ships don't run on gas!" the female said flailing her arms in the air.

"Do you know how ridiculous you look, a twenty year old acting like a seven year old…"

"But you're arguing with me, that makes _you_ just as ridiculous…" the female voice said smirking, and hugging her companion in triumph, he had let his guard down. In the distance the other voice, or rather, the person came back holding three ice-cream bars, with such delicacy, that the other two stopped and looked at him.

"Hey… when did you get that, Abedo?" the female voice asked. Abedo rolled his eyes groaning in annoyance at the sight before him. His original self was being hugged to death by a female of the same class. Xejicka released one free arm, to grasp the stick tightly on the light blue greenish tinted ice-cream bar. The original self of Abedo opened his mouth, since his arms were pinned to his side, and the replica was more than glad to stuff it in his mouth, but not to satisfy the original, but more like to have the original choke on _it_.

"He's choking…" Xejicka said flatly, and something registered in her head. "He's choking!" she said screaming, and looking around. "Abedo, do something!" she panicked. "Oh man if Ames finds out he died from choking on a Popsicle, she's going to kill us! Wait no, she's going to kill me!"

Abedo sighed hearing Xejicka continue:

"If she finds out we were eating ice-cream she's going to be furious! Oh God, oh God, we're all going to die!"

The replica patted Terra on the back, trying to get him to relax, or at least be able to gasp for air. Xejicka was still going about describing the ways Ames would most likely kill them, but it didn't seem to phase the replica, or the _Key of Destiny_.

"Wait, what if she erases our memories?!" Xejicka flung her arm, and somehow the ice-cream went flying, but the better term was soaring through the air, catching germs, and probably smashing into airborne bugs, and it landed somewhere in the distance. Xejicka cringed slightly hearing someone yell out their window.

"She really wouldn't really erase our memories would she?!" she continued again.

Terra and Abedo sighed, shaking their heads, and they tried to continue in their consumption of their frozen treats.

"What if she locks me in Shimasax's room?! I'm too feisty and elegant to die!" the chakram wielder wailed, clawing at Abedo and Terra's black hooded coats.

"Take it, and calm down…" Terra said turning his head slightly, and offering the blue and greenish tinted frozen treat. Xejicka paused for a moment, and grasped it slightly, popping it into her mouth.

"Finally…" Abedo said voicing his opinion rather loudly. "I was wondering when you were going to shut up…" yet somehow the replica found his ice-cream on the ground, and his mouth hung open. "_Great…_" he snarled. He tried to lung forward at the _Flurry of the Dancing Flames_, but Terra held him back at arm's length.

"Protecting your girlfriend…" Abedo said noticing Terra slightly flinch at the mention of that word. "Come on, she ruined my ice-cream, let me at least just knock her ice-cream out of her hand…"

"No…" Terra said calmly trying to escort the replica away from Xejicka, but to no avail. Xejicka, the chakram wielder, just stuck out her tongue, making faces at the replica behind Terra's back. "Listen we're here to do a mission, and not to dilly dally…" he said seriously looking back at Xejicka.

"Dilly dally shilly shally…" Xejicka said spinning about in a child like manner, eating her ice-cream.

"Those things are selling like hot cakes…" Abedo said looking over at the direction of the stand, he was still bent on trying to knock that ice-cream out of her hand. There was a slightly small man, wearing a white and light blue striped apron, with a little white hat of the same nature. In front of the man was a cart with pictures on the side, with the words in red, 'New: Sea Salt Ice-cream'. People from this world were lining up to buy a tasty frozen treat.

"I always thought Traverse Town would be a bit more… different…" Abedo said softly, catching the confused glances of his companions. He explained in detail how he came to know of Traverse Town, it was all thanks to the teachings of the _Chilly Academic_, Shimasax. He had taught the replica much of what he knew, and so this knowledge stayed with him.

Traverse Town was a world that had been a mixture of the worlds that had been destroyed by the Heartless. It was a place where one could go to, escaping the threat of the dark creatures. The place was divided into three districts, the last one being home to a small fountain. The setting for this world was that of night. This world strayed too far from the light, and yet it was a safe place for those who had lost their homes. Tavern looking areas, and street lights brighten the First District, and a clock tower was the most noticeable in the Second District, and an empty house, along with a strange door that accompanied the Third District.

This place seemed very calm, and Abedo had suggested it on the map, while Xejicka and Terra had been fighting about 'personal matters' as the replica called it. Those two words could involve anything from 'apples' all the way down to the last letter in the alphabet, they always fought, and somehow neither of them won.

"I like this world…" the replica said noticing that something had set the other two off. Xejicka's Popsicle that was once Terra's, was on the floor, turning itself into something of a blue and greenish liquid and with sticky properties. Though, for some reason she wasn't mad, but rather disappointed.

"I guess this will be their place of awakening…" Xejicka said, but her eyes seemed glued on the former substance of the fallen ice-cream.

"How are we going to transfer those pods here?" the replica asked as the three of them walked out of the hustle and bustle of First District, and into the more relaxed part of Second District.

**Disney Castle**

"You know, Dad…" a tall looking knight looked at his son as his child began to speak. They were of the same specie, and the son was almost as tall as his father. The shield wielding knight looked at his son, allowing him to continue. "I want to go with you. I want to fight alongside _them_."

"Max…" the familiar knight, by the name of Goofy said, being slightly stern. "We've gone over this--"

"A thousand times, I know that." Max said frowning for a moment. "Come on, Dad, I'm eighteen now, I can take care of myself!"

"What about Roxanne?" Goofy asked quickly, getting his son to pause for a moment. "I know you wouldn't want to leave her behind…" the taller knight had made a valid point.

"But it's not fair though, you and Donald get to go and fight, I want to be a part of that!" Max said looking away for a moment.

To be honest, to Goofy's knowledge, Max had been given an opportunity to train with the rest of the soldiers, to provide their world with defense, but Goofy didn't want his son to get hurt, and so King Mickey obeyed his wish for his son not to join their ranks. Goofy began to wonder whether or not it was a good idea, but he was just doing what he thought was right.

After moments of awkward silence, Max let his anger subside, and looked back at his father:

"So, what are they like?" he asked, noticing the big smile on his father's face.

"Well, lemme think," the anthropomorphic dog rubbed his chin, and squinted trying to think. "Well there's one who's probably around your age, by the name of Riku. He's got a Keyblade he told was called the Way to Dawn, he's a good friend of this other Keyblade wielder by the name of…erm…" Goofy scratched his head, trying to think of the correct name for the wielder. He knew it started with an 'S'. "Sammy… Sam? Roxi? What was his name…?" Goofy tapped his finger on his head trying to think of the name. "Sara?" still nothing popped into his head. "I just had it too…" he said sounding defeated.

"Do you remember anyone else?" his son asked him, Max was trying to be patient with his father.

"There was a girl too, but I don't remember her name either…" the tall shield wielding knight said, being as honest as he could. Something didn't seem right about all of this to him, but to Max he simply thought Goofy was just getting old, which was true, but Goofy didn't forget friends.

**Destiny Islands**

Aqua and Ventus walked Kairi home, up this familiar hill that was home to the mayor's house. Sometimes on weekends or on holiday's she and the mayor's family would spend time in another home, close by Sora's house. The two teens walked away from the elegant looking abode that was nestled on a fresh crisp green hill. Aqua looked around the area taking in the scenery, she loved the setting, it was very different from Sunset Horizons, and she had wanted a change from that place for some time.

"Hey Ventus…" the blonde hared teen looked at the blue hared individual around his age, and she continued, looking around the area once more, "what if… they don't get all of their memories?" she asked.

Ventus looked away, hearing that ocean in the distance, and as he breathed in he could almost taste the salty breeze. The question had plagued them for some time now, upon their arrival of getting to know both Kairi and Riku. "I don't know… but I guess like Riku and Kairi, they would have very little memories of one another…"

Aqua stretched her arms, and took in the gentle breeze that brush up against her. In the back of her mind she missed one of her other friends, who went by the name of Terra. She remembered bits and pieces of watching him move across these plain white halls, and sometimes as they passed by one another they smiled, or smirked. The blue hared teen sighed and looked down at her feet, shuffling them slightly. At that moment though something broke their thoughts of tranquilly, and looked around them. The ground was starting to shake slightly, and several clouds were looming overhead.

"Damn…" Ventus cursed that the rotten timing, and pulled Aqua into a sprint. The two of them ran away from the little town, and found a couple of rafts. '_Perfect!_' the two of them thought, and without a second thought about it, they were getting ready to sail off.

"Wait… Riku and Kairi…" Aqua said quickly, holding Ventus back from the edge of the pier. "Someone has to tell them."

"You tell them then… it'll get dangerous over there…" he pointed to the island, the door was located there.

"But…Ven…" she made up her mind, and nodded, as much as she didn't want to leave him behind. "All right, I'll catch up with you later then…"

"So much for a vacation, huh?" Ventus smirked, and hopped onto the raft. The seas were starting to become restless, the earth knew that something was going to happen, and it was afraid just as well. Aqua looked up at the sky, shades of grey and black were taking over the light shades of blue, it seemed depressing in reality, and Aqua could feel some sort of pressure hit her heart slightly.

In the distance, Riku was sitting down, taking a break from playing scales as a warm up, and only Selphie and him were left, just like always. Selphie Tilmitt was playing a couple of songs on the piano she had heard by ear, and it seemed to come out just fine. The silver hared teen looked out into the distance and noticed that clouds that were starting to form around them. '_Looks like there's going to be a storm…_' he thought, remembering something. '_I hope Sora's doing okay…_'

The brown hared Selphie jumped slightly hitting a sour note, and looked at the fallen chair, and then to Riku, he seemed nervous, but at the same time he managed to crack a smile, but a rather nervous one at that. There were a series of knocks at the door behind them, and the two teens looked at the wooden door of their somewhat private studio. The door was knocked upon once more, and the knob to the entrance turned slowly, and there in their view was a teen leaning tiredly against the entrance of the door.

"Aqua, what's wrong?" he asked noticing the exhausted look on the blue eyed individual's expression.

"The door…" she mustered enough energy to speak. "The door has opened…" she said.

**A/N:** You know what to do, _**one**_ review please!


	2. II

**A/N:** I'm sorry for the long wait you guys, but with school and everything it gets harder to update now plus I'm growing a bit ill at the moment… But not to worry I'm working on chapter 3 as I post this up.

**Rozen-senpai:** Thank you very much for your review, and I don't mind that it was late, I'll try and work on the typos as much as I can, I'm doing my best.

**Xejicka:** Thanks very much buddy for all the inspiration and what not, I'm hope you like this chapter just like you liked the first one.

**And now on with the story! **

**Chapter Two: **Intruders 

The individual with the mixed hairstyle of a mullet and a Mohawk sat in his designated chair looking at the others around him. The first to speak was number VII on the progress they were making by controlling the Heartless. To number IX this was all boring news to him, he would rather be off wasting time somewhere, or eating some ice-cream. The only members that remained were number 3, 7, 9, 10, 8, and 2 all sitting in that order, with the superior right in the middle of them all.

"So then, what of those that we recruited?" number X asked in that accent of his. "Are you to tell me we should let them run around like chickens?" Xehart looked at the _Gambler of Fate_ as he spoke. "Surely you wouldn't want utter chaos, would you?"

Everyone turned their cloaked faces towards the Superior, who had number II on his left, and number III at his right. He said nothing but looked at number 7, she always seemed to be the one who spoke for the Superior at times, why was so much placed on her? It was a question all of the members asked, but no one could think of an answer. Number VII sighed and looked at the members before her:

"They're still under our control, since we gave them those weapons; thanks to Raxter's meddling with Sora and Amaterasu. We give them _some_ freedom, but they have to remember _who_ pulled them out from the darkness. They are human after all." The _Lunar Diviner _said, and the others agreed amongst themselves and looked back at the Superior.

"How goes the memory restoration, _Melodious Nocturne_?" the Superior asked, and all eyes were now on him. He rubbed the back of his head, trying to provide a good answer to the Superior.

"So far, when I checked, it's about 30 percent or slightly higher." Xehart said leaning forward in his chair, he had a little habit of rocking back and forth, it annoyed some of the other members.

"She's still alive…" number VII chuckled and looked back up at the Superior. Everyone within the Organization knew that number VII could be a bit 'fanatical' about the Superior at time, especially when the Memory Witch was mentioned.

"So then, for now she'll be unharmed?" number III couldn't help but ask. "What do we do with her once she lives up to her usefulness?"

"Nothing, for now…" the Superior said, as he looked at three empty chairs. These were once the thrones of Xauqa, Raxter, and Nusvext. "As of right now there is a small invasion of Heartless on the islands of Destiny Islands, so we need not worry about anything small, like the memory restoration. Still, we should not give her so much time to fully restore their memories. I congratulate you, number IX, on your little display with the Dancer and Dusk Nobodies."

"Thank you, Superior." Xehart said, but he still rocked back and forth, not bowing at all.

"By the way, where is your partner in crime?" number X asked, playing with several of the cards he had in hand. "Last I heard she was still in search of Rax during her spare time… And now I hear she's in Castle Oblivion with Ames. But what of right now?"

"I don't know." Xehart said honestly and looked away. He had told her that there was a meeting, but she didn't show. "If I stay with Ames, I'll find her and relay the discussion from today's meeting."

"For right now, I don't think we have much more to discuss." Number II said looking at the Superior. "Unless his highness has something to add…"

With that the meeting had come to a close and all the members disappeared, summoning their oval shaped portals, and heading off to do whatever the task was given at hand.

**Destiny** **Islands**

Near the door that connected the islands with all the other worlds that were scattered throughout the universe, a lone black cloaked figure was walking out of the little hiding spot, and took in the first couple of breaths of the ocean air. The figure looked around and noticed that he was on an island. He smiled slightly and took his time as he walked along the sandy area, letting the Heartless around him roam the island as he pleased. The job was simple, go and lead the Heartless to a world so that they swallow the land into darkness, so far this figure's task was on the place where two Keyblade wielders lived.

The figure noticed that in the distance there was a lone raft, or a rather wide boat, making its way to the pier on this side of the island, it came in from the main island, and the figure watched with careful eyes. '_Who is that?_' the figure asked themselves as the eyes of the Heartless around him looked at the figure that climbed out of the boat, and onto the pier. The blonde hared teen wore a grey shirt, and blue short that seemed to stop down at the knee. A Keyblade was pulled out, and the figure noticed it right away, as the first two Heartless were slain, releasing their captured hearts, and soon it faded away.

'_Damn…_' the figure thought trying to keep from being seen. Ventus looked around noticing that there was only Shadow Heartless, the smallest form of their kind. Despite the fact that they moved clumsily they moved swiftly with their claws, able to disappear into the ground as a regular shadow, and then pop out behind the opponent, or next to the opponent. Ventus grabbed the handle of Diamond Dust, and pushed back a claw away from his heart. '_There's no way I'm losing my heart…_' he thought jumping back, and turning his whole body to the right, connecting the Keyblade with a nearby Heartless.

"Firaga!" Ven shouted letting the tip of his Keyblade emit a strange orange and red glow. Within moments of calling out the fire based spell, the sphere that was consumed in flames moved forward through the air, scorching the Heartless in its wake. The figure in the distance continued to look at the battle, taking note that the young teen was skilled with that Keyblade. Ventus jumped back avoiding a fatal blow to the chest, and threw his Keyblade in a boomerang like motion, he moved his left arm to the right, and the weapon upon command slammed itself against several Heartless on the wielder's right side. '_That training with Aqua is paying off…_' the over zealous wielder thought, jumping back and summoning his weapon back to his left hand.

The numbers of the Heartless were starting to fall, but Ventus still had some work to do. The blonde hared wielder moved forward, bring his Keyblade in front of him, and slashing continuously at the Shadows that got in his way. About three of them jumped into the air, and Ventus followed in suite, spinning his weapon in front of him, dodging the air to air attacks. The sound of metal colliding with mass filled his senses, and he moved his Keyblade to the left, catching three Heartless off guard, and at once he jammed the weapon right through them.

"Blizzaga!" he yelled using his right hand, and out stretched his palm, letting the ice based spell hit the ground, and he created a path of ice. He landed quickly on the ice like sidewalk, and slid across the surface with ease, with his Keyblade at his side he could zip past the Heartless with no sweat at all. The Shadows followed after him, some even following him on the ice. For little creatures with big feet they moved faster on ice.

Ventus jumped off of the magic made structure, and looked in back of him, a mass of black and yellow crowded the space around him. This was going to be tougher than he thought. '_But I can manage…_' he thought using a Thundaga Raid. A massive surge of thunder collided with Diamond Dust, and he hurled it forward. The Heartless were more worried about colliding with the object they most feared that they each evaded it with ease, but some weren't as lucky. '_Return!_' his mind rang out, watching as the jagged looking Keyblade spun in the air, and back to the hands of its master.

The figure in the distance made a small mental note that he had to watch out for that little guy at all cost. '_If I didn't know any better I'd call him a fruit looking wielder…_' the figure though smirking. Ventus panted for a moment, and from his backside something brought him down with incredible force. Two Shadows pinned him to the ground, and Ven felt a metallic taste enter his mouth. '_They busted my lip…_' he thought straining to pick himself up from the weight of the two Heartless.

"Aerora!" Ventus yelled out, and a barrier of wind encircled him, knocking the smaller Heartless, sweeping them off of his back like pieces of paper. The figure took notice of the Keyblade wielders strength, so far he found no weakness, this was going to be a tough challenge for him.

In the main island the clouds were starting to collide with one another, and then the rain would come, she didn't have an umbrella for such an occasion. The green eyed pianist watched as the blue hared teen and the silver hared adolescent run down the hallway of the slightly abandoned studio. Selphie gathered her stuff, but something in the back of her mind rang out. '_Don't move…_' that was something Aqua and Riku told her twice, but still something didn't seem right. Selphie looked around the studio, drums were in place, the keyboard had been tucked away, and both the bass and guitar were on their proper stands, everything seemed right.

"That's…" something blue had caught her attention. "That's that girl's…" Selphie said softly to herself, and picked it up. She remembered how upset Riku had gotten once, when she had browsed the music from within the device. "He never leaves without this…" and now she knew something was wrong. Selphie took the device into the front pocket of her purposely tattered shorts, and dusted her light yellow blouse.

"All right Selphie, you've got to run like your life depended on it…" she said to herself, letting her hand push the front door violently, and off she went like a rocket.

Riku and Aqua were at least fifteen minutes ahead of Miss Tilmitt, and that was a lot of ground to cover. The rain was starting to slowly fall, and neither teen was prepared for a shower of the heaven's tears. The rain fell as gently as it could, as thunder was starting to set in for the Heartless invasion. Aqua stopped quickly watching the shore from the sidewalk, little black heads were raising up, and they yellow eyes could be seen at least 10 yards away. '_This is bad…_' she thought getting her hand ready to summon her weapon.

"Riku!" someone called out, but the rain was starting to descend a bit harder, which meant the drops were falling faster. Riku growled, he remembered how when it was just him, Kairi, and Sora, their plans had been ruined by the Heartless, which he still blamed on himself, despite what Kairi and the others said.

"Not yet…" Aqua said softly standing right next to the turquoise eyed teen. "They haven't moved yet…" something caught the attention of the Shadows and like clock work they all turned their heads to Aqua's right side, there was a girl with a light yellow shirt, and tattered knee lengthened shorts, running through the rain towards the two wielders of the blade of keys.

The Heartless withdrew to their one dimensional form, disappearing into the ground like regular shadows do, and Aqua watched the yellow eyes moved with demon like speed. '_What's that girl doing?! We told her not to move!_' she thought remembering specifically that little detail. Selphie watched as several black bodied creatures with beaming yellow eyes jumped into the air, with their claws ready to strike. Her whole body felt numb, '_so these are the Heartless…_' she thought watching the event unfold so slowly.

"_Move_, Selphie!" Riku and Aqua yelled as Riku flicked his left wrist, and his Keyblade, Way to Dawn, appeared in its strange yet hopeful form. Selphie took several steps back, and jumped away from some of the creatures, just in time as well. One more second and one lucky shadow would've turned another human into a Heartless. A weapon fatally struck the over zealous Heartless, and Selphie had her eyes closed the whole time. She opened one eye to find Riku there, fighting against those little yet dangerous creatures.

"Reflectagun!" Aqua's voice was heard loud and clear from the loud _pitter-patter_ of the rain drops. Riku noticed that the invisible barrier had formed, hearing the _crrsh_ sound as the top part of the dome had closed. The Heartless who had tried to stab the barrier were thrown back, getting shocked as a result, this was the strongest form of the spell Reflect known to the Keyblade wielders. Aqua smirked in her triumph, and within moments of using the spell, she used her Keyblade in a flash, sending showers of Blizzaga spells from the sky, and within moments the Keyblade had withdrawn back to its keychain form. For right now, they were safe, the Heartless had been turned into ice sculptures.

The Reflectagun barrier finally broke down, and Selphie was a bit in shock, her eyes wouldn't blink for a moment, but once Riku tapped her shoulder she snapped out of her vegetable like state. She nervously pulled something from the pocket of her shorts, and Riku blinked, something was caught in his throat.

"You left it…" she said softly handing it back to him. "Remember what you told me? You didn't know what you'd do if you lost it." Selphie noticed the small smile tug at corners of Riku's lips, but he looked back into the distance of that one island, where they use to play as kids, something was going on there. "I'll get going now, I can't fight those things anyway, I'd just probably get in your way." She said waving goodbye, and she ran off in the opposite direction, probably to warn the others.

"Thanks, Aqua…" Riku said softly once Selphie was gone from sight, bowing to her, and she said it was no problem. He tucked the little blue device into the baggy pocket of his black shorts.

"Now, we should get going," Aqua said looking back at Riku. She noticed something in his heart had woken up. He looked back at her, turquoise meeting eyes of a different shade of blue, and somehow their hearts exchanged words of encouragement. Riku sighed after a long period of silence, that puzzle in his heart and in his mind was almost complete, the wielder of dawn was close to placing an image to the nickname 'Ammi'. It had been troubling him for sometime, and Aqua along with Ventus, knew it all too well.

"He needs us," the blue hared individual said softly, breaking the silver hared adolescent's concentration. Riku nodded, but as he took the first step towards the pier he looked back. "Kairi…" Aqua said looking back in the same direction as him. "She's still in training Riku, she wouldn't be much help at this stage, she's still learning…"

Riku sighed, and let Way to Dawn withdraw to the side, turning back into its little Heartless motif keychain.

In the other island Ventus pushed his right leg forward, and at the tip of his foot, spun himself to the side, bring the Keyblade up in a quick movement of a diagonal strike upwards. Diamond dust moved with the wielder's command, and the Heartless in front was reduced to ribbons, as the feared weapon sliced through the dark compassed flesh. Ventus was covered in scratches, not to mention his lip was cut as well. He panted and looked around, he felt the grip on his Keyblade soften for a moment, but within two seconds his Keyblade straightened with the tight grip placed on it. Heartless were moving forward, and he jumped back, avoiding some claws that aimed at his chest.

'_Ars Arcanum,_' Ventus thought quickly, letting his Keyblade moved forward. His body began to emit this strange red tinge, and he could feel some new found strength grow from within in. He closed his eyes concentrating on the energy that was building into the weapon, and at that moment he opened his eyes and let out a battle cry, running forward. The Heartless ran forward ready to bring the teen down, and black bodies moved with swift speed. Diamond Dust moved with such raw power, as Ventus ran with the weapon at his side, the Heartless noticed that somehow the weapon was leaving behind faint traces of snow in its wake. One Shadow ran forward, and the Keyblade took no mercy on it, stabbing it right through its chest, and hurtling it back a group of others.

For right now, Ventus didn't care how many hearts were given up to form Kingdom Hears, as he took some notice at the released hearts from the slain Heartless. The energy was going to give way soon, and he moved faster picking up some sand from the sudden velocity, and all the Heartless could see, upon the weapon striking head on, were several projected snowflakes from the weapon. Ven panted slightly pulling Diamond Dust out of a Shadow, and kicked it to the side, watching it disappear into a thick black mist, this one had no heart. His arms were starting to hurt, and the more he fought the greater the pain increased. He let out an anguished yell and stabbed the jagged weapon into the ground, and upon the sudden burst of command light streamed out of the weapon and touched the Heartless in its path.

Dust kicked up, and Ventus kneeled, his breathing was ragged, and he could feel his head spinning slightly, but he wasn't going to give up, this place had given him a home, and he intended to fight for it. Heartless withdrew, while others welcomed the painful rays of the light, letting out small cries in pain, it was enough to make Ven cringe in pain. He leaned slightly on his erect weapon, and looked around, trying to figure out if some Heartless had survived or not.

"Who else wants some?!" he yelled looking around, the dust was starting to settle. For right now his blue eyes scanned the area ad he found nothing, there were no dark creatures in sight. '_My body hurts…_' he thought leaning forward, he was ready to rest. Something shifted behind him and he picked up weapon, moving his whole body towards the back. His ears had become slightly tuned from his previous training. '_Who is that?_' he asked himself, and noticed that his Weapon came in contact with something. He expected to hear a grunt, but instead he heard metal his metal.

"Ven…" Aqua said softly. The blonde teen looked into the distance; she was standing behind Riku, looking down at him. The blued hared female noticed her good friend covered in cuts and dirt, he had fought heard, she could tell by the look of exhaustion etched onto his face. Ventus looked at his Keyblade, and noticed that something like an angel's wing was locked with Diamond Dust. The wielder of Way to Dawn had blocked Ventus' oncoming attack, and soon the two of them let their weapons fall back to their sides. The turquoise eyed teen looked around and noticed that the sand was starting to clear up, and he sighed in relief, as he out stretched his hand towards Ven, and he picked himself up.

"I swear Ven… one of these days being too eager will kill you." Aqua said walking forward and pulled something out from her back pocket. Riku looked at the little packet and noticed the word 'Elixir' written in silver while the background was green. Ven stuck out his tongue in disgust; apparently he didn't want the green little packet. The female teen frowned and placed the packet in front of Ven's face, and he took it out of her hands by force.

"What is that, Aqua?" Riku asked watching Ventus pull on the side of the green colored packet. He held the opening over his lips, and shut his eye tightly as the content went into his mouth, and he coughed, tasting the bitter substance.

"It's an elixir packet…" she said noticing that Ven was leaning forward. "Don't spit it out!" Aqua said, noticing that Ven had his tongue sticking out. "Just swallow it already; it's not going to kill you."

"How do you know?" Ventus asked, or at least that's what he wanted to ask, but it just sounded weird, after all his tongue was sticking out, so it was just a series of noises.

Riku was still confused by the fact it was an Elixir packet, he had never seen on before, and he really didn't want to try one now, if Ven didn't want to take it, Riku certainly didn't want to taste it.

Meanwhile, Kairi looked around her house, she had heard something break downstairs, and it had startled her for a moment. She braved enough courage to go down the steps and noticed that several white colored plates were broken. '_But Mom isn't that careless…_' she thought looking around, everything seemed quiet, there was an eerie silence. She ran back up the wooden steps, and slide across the floor with her socks. There were little thuds now and then, and she could sense a strange presence around her. '_But… it's been a while…_' she thought pushing back some strands of hair from her face. Her blue eyes looked around the upstairs hallway.

"Mom, Dad?" she called out looking around several rooms, she couldn't find either one of her parents. Something ran past her and she jumped slightly, feeling a sudden pressure in her heart. She turned back and noticed something run into her room, leaving the door ajar. Kairi paused before pushing the wooden framed door, and pulled out something from her navy colored shorts. In her palm a keychain of a paopu fruit rested there in her grasp. The red hared figure pushed the door and noticed that nothing was in her room. Her eyes went from object to object, like her bed, mirror, night stand, rug, dirty pile of clothes, and so on.

She moved carefully towards her pink closet doors, and opened them. Everything looked normal, clothes were on the racks, her shoes were sort of organized, and there were some boxes she never opened. Things did seem normal, well only somewhat for that matter. The Princess of Heart looked back at her room; there was nothing on the wall that made her suspect a thing. '_This is weird…_' she thought looking around, still holding her keychain firmly in her right hand. As her white socks slide across the polished wooden floor, something moved from behind.

"Huh?" Kairi turned around on her heels and noticed that her pile of dirty clothing was starting to move. She summoned her Keyblade, and the pile stopped moving. '_It's not the wind…_' she thought moving closer towards the pile of unclean clothing. The little creature within the pile moved slowly, and it stared through a small crease of thin fabric, watching the red hared teen's slow advance towards its hiding spot. It felt some pressure add to the top part of its concealed area, and as that top layer was removed it jumped out! Kairi shut her eyes as she fell back, and brought her weapon forward, her hand was shaking, causing the Keyblade to move with her loose grip.

The Heartless looked at the girl, she was shaking with fear, and the little creature let out a little purr, though whether it was trying to laugh or talk, it was anyone's guess. The Shadow moved forward, and used its antennae to feel the energy around the room, and the Heartless was drawn to the fact that this girl had a pure heart. It found it strange, and Kairi yelped feeling a soft texture pass against her elbow. The Heartless moved back quickly noticing the Keyblade in her hand, and it growled in defense. Kairi moved back, and pointed her weapon towards the Heartless.

"What was that spell…?" she asked herself nothing the creature was getting ready to attack. The Shadow leapt into the air, and brandished its claws ready to strike at her. Her mind was shutting down, and her body was starting to go numb, she wasn't use to fighting Heartless. "Gra…G… Gravity!" she cried out gripping the handle on her flower and heart based weapon. A ball of dark matter appeared from overhead and collided with the mass of darkness that was the Heartless. It was brought down onto the wooden floor, in a daze. With that Kairi picked herself up, and smacked the Heartless across the head, and it disappeared into a thick mist of black, releasing a captive heart.

Several blocks away from the Fonovi residence a small silver furred creature was growling at the shadows around him. '_What's taking Riku so long?!_' the silver colored hound thought showing off its fangs toward the Heartless. The creature didn't know where his master was, or where the master's mother was. '_So long as her heart is intact…_' it thought turning into its original form. It was the size of a wolf, with thicker silver fur, one amber colored eye and another was turquoise, with horns that curve down at an angle.

Several Shadows moved through the darkest part of Riku's room and the hound swayed his tail to the side, watching for more sudden movements. Somehow these creatures didn't seem that interested in an animal. '_But they take things that have hearts…_' it thought sniffing the air; it hated the stench the Heartless carried about them. '_Come on Vieh, let's see if you're rusty…_' he thought to himself and lunged forward, sinking his fangs into the cold and soft flesh of its first prey. The other Heartless around him hissed and growled to try and aid their fallen comrade. A Heartless from behind sunk its claw into the backside of the hound, and it dropped the mangled Heartless to the floor. He couldn't fight them off like this; it would just create more Heartless.

"Dark Aura…" Vieh said, without moving his mouth, and a strange concentration of energy began to form in-between the gap of the horns. He growled, as his eyes flashed, the energy was formed, and when he hunched his shoulders the ball of energy moved forward, striking down several creatures like bowling pins.

In the distance somewhere in the island where Riku and the others use to play as children, a figure made itself known, clapping their hands in amusement:

"That's right Nusvext, fight, fight, fight," the figure said laughing. "I never thought I'd see your fairy-self here…" Ventus tried to lung forward, snapping at the fact of the word 'fairy' but Riku held him back.

"Who are you?" Riku asked, still trying to hold Ventus back. Aqua looked at the hooded figure, trying to read their energy level. '_I don't know this guy…_' she thought feeling concern rush into her heart. '_This must be a new recruit…_' she deduced and growled. The Mystic Warrior, as she had once been known as, pulled out her Keyblade:

"Stopgun!" she said pointing her weapon towards the new figure, and a small growl emitted from the newcomer. Aqua withdrew her weapon as quickly as she placed the advance magic, and sighed in triumph. "You're a new recruit I take it?" she asked. For right now Aqua would try and buy the others some time so that they could leave, or just get to a safe place.

"You must Xauqa…" the figure said laughing. "What the heck have they done to you? To think you'd get your ass kicked by two punks. You're better off de-" he didn't have time to finish that sentence as Ventus was right behind the newcomer; his Keyblade was pressing into his back.

"I dare you to say that again…" Ventus said feeling anger rise in his heart. How dare someone like him talk to her in that manner? "What gives you the right to talk like that…?" he asked, pushing the weapon deeper, just enough to break the surface of the skin, but the new person wouldn't feel the affects until after the spell wore off. To Riku this was all confusing, but he tried to think about what 'Nusvext' and 'Xauqa' meant. '_So, if this guy is wearing an Organization coat and he knows about Ven and A-… Wait no, they couldn't possibly be…?!_' somehow the teen with the turquoise eyes had figured it out.

**Castle Oblivion **

Ames yawned flipping through pages from two notebooks, a black one, and a white one. '_He still doesn't understand… but at least he's making the effort to try and pursue some knowledge on the subject…_' the Memory Witch thought, referring to Riku. She remembered from scanning through her "original's" memories, she had come across the little black notebook. Ames stood up and stretched, walking around her confined room, sadly she and the other two were safe here, but at the price of the Memory Witch's freedom.

---

As Sora was drawing on the rocky texture of their secret place he heard something, and looked around, maybe he was just jumpy because of what he was drawing. In a way it embarrassed him.

"This world had been connected…" Sora's eyes widened as he heard a voice, and he tried to act cool but that wasn't his specialty. He stumbled forward and turned his head, looking at the strange cloaked figure.

"Wh-…Who are you?!" Sora asked trying to use his body to cover the image behind him.

The figure in the dark brown hooded cloak spoke once more:

"Tied to the darkness… Soon to be completely eclipsed."

To Sora this was something strange, and he didn't understand what the man was saying, he didn't even know how he got here. To the young boy all of this was very strange, and so was the man in general.

"What…You… You're from another world?" he asked, or it was something along those lines, that's what his mind was asking anyway. "Where did you come from?"

"You understand nothing…"

That was the day when the Heartless invasion began, when Amaterasu and her siblings did nothing, because they had a feeling that the Keyblade master was among them on the island…

---

The Memory Witch remembered the events, and figured that her input valued as well, since there needed to be recorded data for future generations. '_So far it's 37 and running…_' she thought smiling slightly, something was hindering their progress. "Maybe the others are having trouble remembering them as well… This could be a problem…" she said softly to herself, pushing back some strands of silver hair from her eyes. "I just hope Xejicka and the others found a place for these two…" she said softly looking up at the closed pods, she wanted things to run smoothly.

There was a knock on the door behind her, and a familiar figure with green eyes walked through, closing the door behind him, and he was humming. In his hand he had a small packaged sandwich, and in another hand he had a small bottle of juice, it looked like it was of a brown texture, meaning it was either from tamarinds or apple juice. The Memory Witch would've preferred the first guess.

"Just thought you might be hungry again…" Xehart said waltzing into the room like always, whenever he made an entrance.

"It's funny…" Ames said softly, as Xehart sat down on a white chair, "I always thought we'd be free once we had them in our hands, but… well right now it's not really looking like that at all." The silver hared witch looked a bit disappointed at that fact alone, but she knew there was hope for the future somehow, even if she didn't know it.

"For right now, you just concentrate on their progress…" Xehart said as she looked back at him. He patted a designated place for her to sit down and eat. Ames walked down the room and sat next to Xehart and eyed the packaged article carefully, and sniffed it slightly. "You always do that…" he said sounding annoyed. "You're worse than a kid."

"So I'm worse than you?" she asked, grinning.

"They sent one of the new recruits to Destiny Islands…" Xehart said noticing that Ames was picking at her sandwich, dumping out the tomatoes, and olives from within the breaded delicacy. She made a face noticing that she was holding an onion ring covered in mustard.

"Great, now the mustard has an onion tanginess flavor to it…"

"And he's on the move again; he's still looking for that artifact."

"This won't taste good…" she said placing he top part of the bread back on the turkey breast sandwich. "I'm going to be tasting onion for _months_…"

"But it's useless without the **_key_**." Xehart said watching Ames bit into the sandwich.

"…Is that why he's recruiting more people?" she asked with her mouthful. "They're all just poor saps…"

Xehart cringed at the sight:

"That may be so, but they can wield Keyblades…" he said feeling a bit uneasy, he didn't like discussing matters such as these with her, especially if she was eating.

"Even if they can, they can't **_do_** anything like previous wielders… and he knows that…" she said putting her sandwich down, and she started picking at it again. She pulled out a drenched piece of onion and growled, letting the onion fall on the paper below the whole sandwich. "I thought I said _no_ onions…" she said frowning.

"…" Xehart couldn't help but smile at her for a moment. "What are you going to do if they don't give you enough time?"

The blue eyed, silver haired, dark skinned Memory Witch, thought about it for a moment and shrugged. "Well, if they don't give me enough time there's nothing we can do about it. Well just have to watch them every step of the way… Does that sound good?"

"I guess so, but I don't want to be babysitting…" the sitar wielder said looking down at his hands.

"Cheer up, I'll stick you with Number XIII." She said noticing Xehart's green eyes light up for a small moment.

**Radiant** **Garden**

Two older teenagers looked into the distance of the bailey and sighed in unison. The slightly older ninja looked to the side and noticed that a purple eyed individual was right by her side. She smiled and ruffled his hair for a moment; she loved annoying him with simple gestures.

"What are you thinking about?" she asked, watching the figure open his mouth slightly.

"Stuff…" he said simply and looked at the vast emptiness. The Hollow Bastion Restoration Committee still had a long way to go, it would take several years before it even started to look like home.

"Come on Yomigami, it's not healthy keeping to yourself." She said leaning forward. "Tell good ol' Yuffie what's the problem."

Yomigami rolled his eyes and looked away from the ninja's gaze; he didn't want to look directly into her, because he would soon spill the truth out to her. '_My sister…_' he thought catching a glimpse of the pinkish hued sky; dusk was beginning to grace the heavens with its calm colors. Yuffie clenched her fist, she didn't like it when people ignored her, especially Yomigami. She asked him again, but still she got the same response. But finally he decided to speak:

"My sister… and Riku." He said simply, and pushed back some of the bangs from his eyes. "I wonder how they're doing…"

"They're doing fine…" the ninja said happily. "I mean… Those two can carry their own weight; they're fine as long at the others are with them."

"So you think they found each other again?" he asked looking up at her. Yuffie Kisaragi thought about if for a moment and placed a slender finger on the individual's chest. "Huh?"

"Let your heart answer that for you." She said smiling, and somehow that made Yomigami smile. For right now he felt at ease within his heart. "You know it's hard to believe it's almost going to be about a year since that old bald guy was defeated…" she said looking off into the distance.

"It's not really hard to believe because it happened." He said softly, and messed up her hair in the process. Yuffie giggled slightly, but it wasn't because of that, rather something popped into her head.

"Hey you know if you rearrange the words in Xemnas…" she began with that discovery once more.

"No…" Yomigami said covering his ears. "I can't hear you!"

"You're no fun 'Yuki'…" she said pouting. For right now, she was glad he didn't hear her. 'Yuki' was his nickname, and he didn't like being called that, especially if it was Yuffie who was saying it. She opened her mouth:

"M-A-N-S-E-X…." she smiled.

In the distance there was a strange looking creature, with mahogany tinged fur who stared off into the distance, and the sound of footsteps caught his attention.

"There you are, Nanaki." A girl said, she appeared to be around the age of ten years old, but that was just her outer appearance, her heart was by far older, as was her mind. The creature greeted her formally, and she gave a small smile, patting the animal on the head. He sighed and looked off into the distance once more; he longed to see this world back to its original state. "Cait Sith was looking for you." The girl with amber hair and blue eyes said softly, her voice was starting to show emotion since they had last spoke with one another.

"Did he say why, Shelke?" Nanaki asked looked up at her, and the girl in response shook her head. "Where's Vincent?" he asked, and the girl felt her mouth gap slightly. That was a good question, she had not seen Vincent for a couple of weeks now, since the wedding of Tifa and Zack.

"I am sure he is fine." Shelke replied looking off into the distance with Nanaki right by her side. She sat down pulling her legs closer to her. Shelke wore a light colored purple tank top with blue capri shorts, and light pink shoes. "The whole group is leaving… Reno, Rude, and Mr. and Mrs. Fair are leaving for Midgar today…"

"I thought they were going to help…" he looked at her, and she shrugged in response, they didn't give her so much information as to 'why' they were leaving. "The good thing is that Midgar is within walking distance of Radiant Garden." Nanaki said smiling slightly.

"I think, that's where Vincent Valentine went. Something, in here…" she pointed towards her chest. "It tells me he's there." Nanaki smiled at the gesture, and felt some ease within his own heart.

"How do you think Sora and the others are doing?" he asked. For some reason the name just popped up, and he felt the need to ask the question.

In the distance Leon was busy checking up on some of the files relating to radiant Garden. He pressed the 'enter' key, finishing the last update, and paused looking around. He heard a voice within his mind, and closed his eyes trying to think about what the voice had said. A young female watched him for a moment as she passed through the doorway holding two closed bottles of water. '_He's at it again,_' she thought regaining her balance, the water bottles were slippery. Squall, or Leon, as he prefers, was meditating once more on a subject that only he could understand.

Rinoa Heartilly sighed and continued her approach clearing her throat and thrusting the bottle towards him, but he didn't stir. She tried again, nudging the bottle against his arm and he opened one eye and looked at her curiously. Rinoa sighed in relief:

"I thought I'd find you here." She said, her brown eyes watched as he took the drink and twisted the blue cap off of the clear plastic bottle. "How's the computer doing?" Rinoa asked leaning forward. "Was it a virus?"

The brown haired individual shook his head and drank some water for a moment. Something in the back of his mind clicked, which was at a _good_ time considering he was drinking water, and as he gasped in surprise, he coughed. Rinoa blinked noticing the man cough, trying to clear something from his airway.

"Are you…?"

"I remembered…" he said stifling a cough. "Sora and Amaterasu…" Leon gasping for air as Rinoa patted the Gunglade wielder on the back. He cleared his throat, and tried to act calm and natural, but that was hard to do considering he was chocking on water because of a memory.

"Come to think of…" Rinoa paused as she drank some water. "I remembered them just now…"

"Weird…" Leon said rubbing the side of his head. "I wonder how they're doing…"

**Traverse** **Town**

"Xejicka!" someone called out. A huge bulk of darkness rushed forward and threw the figure into the air, and twirled them about making the contents from their stomach move about in a frenzy. Abedo rushed forward pushing off of a falling platform, and pulled his weapons back ready to strike it down. Terra followed in the same manner as Abedo, his replica, and threw Two Across with enough force to knock the Heartless back down to the ground. This was a chameleon type of Heartless that tangoed with Sora a while back during his adventure.

Xejicka noticed she was soaring through the air, and she summoned on chakram, and threw it in a downward motion, watching the flames ignite from the object, ready to strike its foe. The Heartless turned around quickly and brought its black colored tail up, and hit the chakram like a baseball, sending it higher into the sky. The chakram wielder growled for a moment and brought out her other individual weapon and let lose some Firaga spells on the creature. The chameleon like creature ran around in circles trying to dodge the fire based spells, and Abedo ran forward, using some leftover momentum, bring Soul Eater into the air, and throwing it forward.

The Heartless looked back using its eyes to keep its attention on two things, and the massive tail came forward and whacked the weapon to the side treating it like a paper ball. Terra ran forward bring his Keyblade into play and jumped into the air. Xejicka summoned back her wayward chakram and descended at top speed from the air. Terra spun to the right and brought his weapon down at hard as he could. Xejicka gripped the handle of her circular weapon and jabbed it with enough force to stab the back side of the chameleon like Heartless. It let out a howl in pain and Abedo regained his weapon and stabbed the lower part of the creature's right hind ankle.

Terra growled and gripped the handle of his weapon with both hands, and with a sudden yell he summoned enough strength and stabbed the forehead of the Heartless. The dark colored chameleon screeched in pain making those within the area cover their ears. It flayed around stomping at the ground and its rampaging attacks caught Abedo and Xejicka slamming them to a crumbling brick wall. The wielder of Two Across watched as his friends were pushed back by the massive tail. The yellow eyes of the Heartless turned on Terra and he ran forward trying to avoid the slashes and sudden dark spells that the creature began to cast as a last resort. '_Reflect_!' he summoned the barrier quickly, but it broke apart when the Heartless sent forth a Gravigun, the highest form of Gravity known to man.

Terra felt his body hit the ground with incredible force and at once the Heartless pounced on him, and the man yelled out in pain hearing something break from around his chest. '_My rib…_' he thought moaning in pain. Xejicka and Abedo made it out of the ruble and they looked around hoping to find the Heartless gone, but they found something else. Abedo ran forward watching his original squirm with pain, and Xejicka snapped watching her friend in such a helpless state. The replica turned around and noticed the pressure in his heart, as well as the heat. Flames danced around the chakram in the Soulless' possession and her eyes flashed in anger. Xejicka threw both of her circular weapons and upon commanding them with her mind, she made the weapons dance around the Heartless.

"Burn, baby, burn!" she said laughing, commanding the fire to burn the flesh of the yellow eyes Heartless. Terra struggled to move, and luckily he was out of its grip as the Heartless howled in pain. He rolled over to the side, and pulled his face back, avoiding a scorching chakram from the right side. Abedo called him over from a clearing, and Terra made a mad dash, dodging and rolling from harms way. Terra's blue eyes looked back and noticed the Keyblade still lodged into the Heartless' forehead. He tried to summon it back, but he was out of range. Xejicka was laughing watching ashes slowly form from the bottom of the Heartless.

Red, orange, and yellow tinged flames danced around yellow eyes and a huge black body, accompanied by some of the noise a Heartless made when it sounded defeat. The flames arose, and stretched higher into the sky, and as the pillar of fire fell so did the Heartless. The yellow eyes began to grow dim, and it began to sway to the side, finally touching the light grayish floors of Second District. In the distance from the Gizmo Shop a bell rang out and Xejicka looked behind her, feeling the area shake a bit from the shockwave of the _chime_. The Heartless dispersed into its dark colored mist, but no heart was sent into the void.

**Castle Oblivion **

"So… where's Xejicka?" the Memory Witch asked the two hooded figures. She tapped her pencil that she placed in her left hand. The two explained in detail about the event that had occurred, how a Heartless had appeared within Traverse Town. Her blue eyes noticed something on the collar of one of the hooded Organization robes and she frowned. "You guys are gone for three weeks, then I hear Xejicka's gone, _AND_ you ate ice-cream?"

"That's from two weeks ago…" one of the figures said clearing their throat. The other one looked away and Ames muttered something. "We would've brought you some but… we ran out of munny…" the figure said a bit upset.

"You two can get me some next time, it's all right." She said tilting back in her chair. Ames yawned loudly, sending some echoes across the white colored room. "I'm just really tired…" she said softly closing her eyes. "I can't sleep… or the sha--…"

The other two figures watched from their covered eyesight. The slightly dark skinned Memory Witch was growing tired, and her blue eyes would droop from time to time. The figures said that she could sleep since they were there for protection against whatever it was she was afraid of. One figure removed his hood and looked back at the other figure and smiled sadly. It was the young man with brown colored hair and blue eyes, Terra. He walked forward to try and make the Memory Witch a bit more comfortable but the other figure was ahead by two steps. Terra smiled and watched as the other figure placed his robe on her like a blanket.

"She can't get sick… or else their memories would take longer to restore." Abedo said softly. "If she doesn't get enough sleep they don't restore so much of their memories…" the replica said looking back at his original. "Am I right?"

Terra nodded and poked at the table for a moment watching a screen come up. So far the two individuals had 64 percent of their memory back, which was a good sign for the others as well. "They rely on her, just as she relies on them…" Terra said softly patting the silver haired female. "We can't let any intruders enter this place while she's at her most vulnerable."

**A/N: **You know what to do **_one_** review please!


	3. III

**A/N:** A big thank you to my readers and reviewers, thanks you guys!

**Nameless Dragon:** Thanks bud, it means a lot coming from you! Enjoy!

**Xejicka:** WOOT! Thanks buddy! I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Again this is all un-betaed so I can only catch so many mistakes.

**On with the story! **

**Chapter 3:** **Clavis** **abs Luminarium quod Caligatio** (Key of Light and Darkness)

Abedo watched the outside, thinking about several things. Why hadn't the Nobodies attacked? That's something that buzzed about in his head. He leaned against a white pillar and yawned, guard duty bored him. His blue eyes scanned the white hallway and he sighed heavily trying to think of something to occupy himself wit. He acted different towards his original self. He acknowledged the fact that he was jealous of his original, but at the same time he was glad that he was different from him, the replica accepted the fact that they were both different. The door creaked softly and Abedo tensed up a bit, blue eyes met with an identical pair of blue eyes, and both males emitted a soft sigh in relief.

The original looked away; his eyes were counting the strange decorated images on the ceiling above him. Abedo didn't take an interest in this castle, even though he knew he had been 'born' or rather, he had been created within the laboratory of the second _Chilly Academic_.

"Is…she asleep?" the replica asked Terra and his gaze toe away from the ceiling. Terra nodded, and the replica felt this wave of relief just wash over him. It was strange, even though he had an inkling as to the fast that his memories were fake, it didn't stop him from caring about the Memory Witch. "That's a relief." He said failing to notice the smile that formed when he said that.

"They're actually giving us time…" Terra added, pulling down his hood, his face was now in full view. "I'm speaking too soon of course…" he said looking back at Abedo, grinning slightly. Something had entered his mind. "You know, if I didn't know any better I'd say you actually _like_ her."

"Who?" Abedo asked turning his head.

"Come on, it's written across your face." Terra said putting his hands in back of his head. "Oh yeah, I'm taking over your shift here."

"You know it was better when Xehart was here…" the replica said blowing some strands of brown hair away from his eyes. With that his hands grasped the light colored knob of the white door and he pushed it open. He noticed that Ames had woken up and she was fidgeting with the controls of the two pods.

"Tell Terra that we're leaving soon…." She said softly, her gentle blue eyes looking back at him. The replica always wondered if she saw him as a person or as a reflection of the original. Abedo could tell that something was troubling her by the way the corners of her mouth twitched slightly whenever she paused to think.

"Do… do you need any help?" the replica asked starting to walk forward, but something told him not to take one more step.

"They stopped at 95 percent yesterday…" she said softly looking back at the closed buds. "I think that it's a sign that we should stop this now… I'll just have to give them a new memory for when we take them away from here…"

"So… do either of them remember Sora or Amaterasu?" he asked looking back up at the pods.

"I don't really know for sure…" Ames said carrying two Organization robes in her arms and a strange looking bag. "But we'll find out about this later…"

"NOBODIES!" Ames and Abedo flinched hearing the shout from outside the doorway.

Terra pulled out Two Across and looked at the Dancer and Assassin Nobodies in the area. '_Damn it…_' he thought pulling out another weapon, this was a replica of another Keyblade. The Assassin Nobodies disappeared into the floor, and Terra noticed that the claw like appendages were visible and he felt the whole Keyblade connect with the visible claw like appendages, ripping the Nobody from its hiding place.

"We're leaving!" Abedo yelled pushing through the door, Soul Eater was raised into the air, and he cut down an Assassin from the side. Terra looked behind him and noticed that Ames had stopped moving. The replica jumped back avoiding the self destruction of an Assassin Nobody and turned around. The two of them noticed that there was a piece of paper by her feet, and the only thing they could think of was that she had escaped through a portal, leaving a fabricated image behind.

A Dancer Nobody picked up Abedo in the midst of all this and flung him into the air. Terra looked back and felt something hit him in the chest. The Assassin Nobodies circled around Terra ready to strike him down as he tried to pick himself up. Abedo's opponents took turns using him as a punching bag, and flung him into the air. The strange looking Assassin's moved underneath the ground as if the surface were made out of water, and Terra tried to block back the Nobodies with his replicated Keyblade, but that was having no affect whatsoever.

A portal appeared from the corner of the hallway, and the two individuals made a run for it. Dancers and Assassins used their speed to try and knock the individuals down. Abedo tripped and rolled rapidly towards the crowd of Dancer Nobodies. Terra looked back and stopped, almost stumbling forward. He raised his Keyblade, Two Across, and jumped into the crowd protecting his replica with all of his might. Abedo watched through his eyes as Terra took hits for him. The replica tried to move, but his left leg was in pain, he had hurt it coming down. Two Across moved through the air trying to protect both its master and the replica of its master. Terra turned to the side moving the Keyblade quickly to the right, using the edge to stab one of the Nobodies and threw it back to the crowd at the left side.

"Hurry!" a voice called out from the portal, and Terra picked up Abedo slightly. The replica made it clear that he couldn't walk that well or even run for that matter. "Stopgun!" the voice called out, and the Nobodies felt their limbs stop, time had been frozen for them. It was an agonizing walk of about 20 feet towards the portal, but Abedo was glad that the memory Witch had come back for them in the nick of time. Terra struggled a bit with the replica but he didn't care, he just wanted to get out of here as quickly as possible.

The Memory Witch could feel her strength waning for a while. '_They'd better hurry up, I can only hold them back for so long…_' she thought trying to concentrate on the portal and the spell, it was hard trying to maintain that balance for such a long time. Abedo and Terra managed to make it to the mouth of the portal, but the spell broke in an instance. In a last resort Terra pushed the replica forward, and the portal started to shrink smaller and smaller with the passing seconds. The replica found blue eyes staring back at him from the darkness, and for a second he thought it was Terra.

"Where is he?" she asked helping the replica up. He winced as he placed some pressure on his left leg. The replica told him how he had sacrificed his freedom to get him into the portal.

"We have to go back and get him…" Abedo said quickly, noticing that Ames was getting ready to leave. "I know that you wouldn't leave him there alone…"

"I… I don't have enough strength left to open it…" she said softly looking down at her hands. They were shaking from the loss of energy, she had used too much in those minutes with the Nobodies. The Memory Witch flinched as Abedo placed his hand in hers.

"Use some of mine…" he said. "Terra can't do this by himself…" the replica said feeling Ames hand close with his. "You know, he owes me big time for this…" Abedo grinned.

**Destiny** **Islands**

The silver haired teen winced as he tried to move his right arm for a moment. '_Stupid…_' he thought noticing the bandaged right arm. Aqua was the one who had pulled him away from the fight weeks before. The figure in the black Organization robe had let Riku hit him once, and when the moment had been right a Keyblade connected with his right arm, creating a deep gash. He had felt helpless when that happened, and Ventus was the one who finished the fight. There was a light knock on the wooden door, and he looked up. A figure wearing a light pink shirt with black shorts could slightly be seen through the crack of the door.

"How are you feeling?" she asked opening the door slightly. Riku sighed, trying to say that he had felt worse, but it didn't come out that way. "How's Aqua?" the red haired girl asked. Riku looked away slightly trying hard not to remember…

_"Riku, don't!" Aqua yelled trying to get him to stop. The silver haired teen ran forward with Way to Dawn at his side. The new figure jumped back avoiding an attack from the side and he pulled out a Keyblade by the name of Jungle King. The keychain caught Riku's attention, it was a jungle butterfly with light peach orange colored wing-tips. Ventus had pushed Riku in the nick of time, and blocked the oncoming attack with Diamond Dust. The silver haired teen slide across the sand, and he picked himself up running forward once more with Way to Dawn. _

_Jungle King came down, and Riku brought his right arm up in defense, and he felt something burn upon the moment of impact. Way to Dawn had managed to stab the opponent in the shoulder. It was a stab for a stab in this case. Riku pulled back and he got ready to tackle the wielder down to the ground, but Ventus beat him to it. Ven stabbed the new wielder with Diamond Dust, opening a new gash on his right side. Aqua ran forward and pulled Riku back, but she never saw the Thundaga spell coming her way. _

_"Reflectaga!" Riku cried out, but because he hesitated the spell broke apart when the animated thunder hit the magical barrier. _

_Aqua's eyes widened as she felt electricity hit her right arm. At that point someone else yelled out in pain, or what seemed like agony. All Riku could see was Diamond Dust embedded into something, and Jungle King was tossed aside like an old rag doll… _

"She's doing fine now, but Ventus…" Riku began. "If he's anything like Sora he probably wouldn't want me to see her right now until she's at a hundred percent." he said, noticing the look of regret in Kairi's eyes. It was strange but they began remembering people know, but ones the other didn't remember. Kairi couldn't remember Sora, and Riku couldn't remember Amaterasu. "You really don't remember him, do you?"

Kairi shook her head and looked down. Attached to the paopu keychain was a lucky charm made for a good friend. Riku knew its sentimental value, but Kairi did not. The same went for the blue mp3 player, Kairi knew how much it meant to him, but Riku couldn't remember why. In the distance the little bundle of silver fur looked at the two teens trying to figure out what they were thinking.

"I wouldn't worry too much about it…" Vieh said breaking the silence. "What's lost can be found, but what was found can be lost too…" the silver bundle of fur jumped onto its master's bed and sat by Riku's lap. "You'll remember in time just be patient." The little hound said yawning. Kairi always found it curious that its lips didn't move when it spoke.

Deeper within the main island Aqua was reflecting on several things, when the name Nusvext popped into her head. She smiled slightly looking back Ventus had fallen asleep amongst some bandages and cushions. The Mystic Warrior's arm felt much better, almost to one hundred percent. It seemed strange to her that someone from the Organization, other than Raxter, would wield a weapon such as a Keyblade. Ventus was snoring softly, and she mumbled something, it was along the lines of 'he'd better not drool on my pillow'.

"You each possess the mightiest weapon of all…" Aqua said softly to herself, looking down at her keychain. She had muttered the very words their master had told them a long time ago. "Ignis you idiot, what were you thinking?" she asked scrunching her nose at the mention of their master's name. "You took Terra from us that day… and left the two of use alone…" caring blue eyes looked back at the sleeping teen…

_"What are these anyway, Master Xehanort?" Aqua asked raising a strange weapon up to his eye level. The old man chuckled and examined the weapon taking it from her hand. It looked like a key, with a golden colored blade, and the hand guard was that of a light silver tinge. It was an inverted color scheme from Terra's Keyblade, Kingdom Key. He handed the sacred weapon back to her. _

_"That my dear Aqua, is the Keyblade of the Realm of Darkness." Xehanort said watching the child's eyes widen. "You each possess the mightiest weapon of all… The Keyblade." He said noticing how Ventus was eyeing his weapon. "That is Path to Dawn, Ven. It is from the Realm of Twilight, or what we call the world in-between." _

_Terra was in the distance sitting by himself. Master Xehanort had left them alone to battle some sort of shadow creature and they almost didn't make it out a live in the process if it weren't for the Keyblade. 'Is that he wanted to see, if we could summon the strength that slept in our hearts? What if we didn't? We could've died because of that thing…' he thought looking at Kingdom Key in his grasp. His weapon was from the realm of light, the good side as other people called it. _

_"You don't look too happy…" Ventus said sitting down right next to him. _

_"I don't feel like I deserve it… if anyone it should go to you." Terra said, lifting up his head. "You're like light, you always seem happy." _

_"Stop talking like that. It chose you because you're the one who has the most light within all of use. You give us strength…" Ventus said trying to get his friend to smile. "You've probably got a stronger heart than all of us put together…" _

_"What if I'm not good enough?" he asked, and noticed the frown on Ventus' face. _

_"My God, you broken record…" he tried to force the older teen to smile. "You'll be fine as long as you have us. We're your friends, if you ever stray we'll be there to point you in the right direction." He noticed a small smile tug at the corner of his older friend's mouth. "That's the spirit." _

_"You know… I heard Ignis talking to himself before… about the person who received the Keyblade of the realm of light… he said that that person would have to go through some training, as will the others to balance one another… but I don't really want to leave home." _

_"None of us do…" the two male teens looked up, noticing that Aqua had been eavesdropping on their conversation. "But I'm sure as long as we have each other we'll be fine, no matter what comes our way." _

_"You know, we've got light, twilight, and darkness… but what about dawn?" _

_"What are you talking about, Terra?" the others asked. _

_"Who holds the key to dawn?" Terra asked. _

_"I sure as hell don't think it's Ignis…" Ventus whispered harshly. _

_"Ven?! You take that back!" Aqua said grabbing the smaller teen by the ear. _

_"That guy creeps me out…" Ventus said leaning towards the side, he was trying to bat Aqua's hand away from him. "Ooff!" Terra blinked as the two of them had fallen down onto top of each other. "Get off! You weigh more than a cow!" Ven eye's widened when he realized what he said. _

_"You're going to regret saying that… Start running you limp noodle!" Aqua said pulling out her Keyblade, Ventus had a five second head start. _

To be honest she missed those days more than anything in the world, at least all three of them were together, and to her that was the only thing that mattered. Now though, she and Ventus were in a strange place, with people they barely knew on a personal level. Things had changed so much for the two of them. '_Because_ _of the Memory Witch…_' she thought huffing for a moment. '_She gave us our titles and we followed them like lost sheep… but in the end we regained our souls, no longer shackled by the thoughts of the original members… I guess it's for the better right now, Terra has to find himself…_' she thought. Aqua was startled by Ven's mumbling.

"No… NO! Put that away!" he yelled in his sleep. "I don't know where that brownies been!" The blonde haired teen said tossing and flaying in his sleep like a maniac. Aqua chuckled watching Ven fight with the imaginary brownie in his sleep. It seemed like only yesterday when they had received their Keyblades, but that was over 2 decades ago. Now it seemed that they no longer possessed their original Keyblades, it had been passed to a younger generation.

"But what did he mean… It is not you I have chosen?" Aqua asked herself. It was something Terra had muttered when he had felt a presence about two years ago. His spirit had lingered within the area of their old home, and yet not at the same time. His rage had awakened when Sora entered that state of Terra's meditation about two years ago. Sora had been victorious of course, like all great heroes were, and it changed Terra's mind slightly, but still he pondered as to why.

Aqua had tried to understand why Terra had said that to the young Sora and she almost understood why. Still assumption alone wouldn't help her, she needed solid proof. In a way she wanted to put Terra's mind at ease, as did Ventus, but right now, with no solid leads they were basically stranded. She winced, remembering the sharp pain that his her arm. At least Riksu was safe, she had moved just in time to block the attack from his body. She remembered how furious Ventus had been with Riku.

_"You idiot!" Ventus yelled picking Riku up roughly by the collar. "Why did you hesitate?!" _

_"Ventus, that's enough!" Aqua yelled, clutching her injured arm. "He made a mistake, that's all right." _

_Riku looked away, pushing Ventus away from him. Ven growled, as blue eyes met with turquoise eyes, the two were about ready to punch one another, to solve it their own way. Riku curled his fist, and Ven was getting ready to move forward, and the two of them stopped midway. Aqua needed to be healed first, that was what they agreed on. The blonde haired teen ripped a piece of fabric from his grey shirt, and was getting ready to make a sling for her injured arm. Riku on the other hand placed a Curaga spell, to try and help the body regain some movement, her arm was numb. _

_"Thanks you guys…" Aqua said noticing that Ventus was moving his hands with care, and Riku didn't stop the Curaga spell until after the arm was placed into the sling. Female blue eyes looked at the gash on Riku's arm, and she felt helpless, she couldn't heal him with Curgun like she wanted to. "Ven, can you please fix Riku's arm for me?" she asked noticing the look of confusion etched on the blonde's face. _

_"It's all right, I can do it myself." Riku said waving his hand as he spoke. _

_"I just don't want your arm getting infected. A Cure spell only helps the skin close faster, but it doesn't wash away the dirt." She rebutted lifting her head up to met the taller teen's gaze. "Didn't they teach you that?" _

_Riku title his head at the word 'teach'. They were supposed to teach him when to use the Cure spells? He had remembered once how King Mickey was going one about certain spells but during his younger teenage years that went in one ear and out the other. He couldn't help but ask: _

_"Teach me?" _

_"You mean-… They don't teach about that stuff anymore?!" Aqua couldn't help but move her injured arm, she flinched, grasping it in its sling. "Back when I was learning, they taught us in Sunset Horizons…" _

_"Yeah, which was how long ago?" Ventus couldn't help but join in. "In this generation the Keyblade is but a fairy tale! Heck we're old geezers compared to these guys." _

_"Old?" Aqua looked back at the blonde haired teen. "Excuse me, but I'm not a day over-…" _

_"Yeah, blah, blah, blah… Geez Aqua, relax." Ventus said winking at her. "You're pretty cute for a middle aged women." _

_"Ven!" _

_Riku watched for a moment, and smiled. For some reason this didn't make him miss Sora, his good friend, as much as other times. Whenever he saw Ventus he saw Sora in him, but he knew that Ven could never fully replace Sora. He knew though, that Ven and Aqua weren't what they appeared to be, somehow he had a feeling they were far older than just a pair of 17 year olds. _

_"It was during the reign of Agito VI, and his son prince Amos. They ordered that those training under Elusion-Ilusion learn before hand the benefits for healing magic." She said looking up at the sky. _

_"King Agito VI…" Riku said softly, for some reason that sounded oddly familiar. "Huh, Amos…" he thought about it some more. "Versus is now King, if his father hasn't already died…" the silver haired teen thought about it some more. "That would make the two of you about 37, or possibly into your early 40s…" he said looking at the two individuals. _

Within the Fonovi residence, this here being Riku's home, Kairi leaned against one of the wooden chairs in his room, and looked up at the ceiling. She noticed that he had some of those glow-in-the-dark stars, just like another boy's. Kairi knew that his name was Sora, but she would be lying to herself if she said she _knew_ him one a personal level. To her the name didn't do anything, she didn't remember how she was supposed to feel when his name was mentioned. Nothing rang a bell, her emotions didn't give way to the name 'Sora' as Riku hoped it would. In a way it was the same for Riku, he didn't feel anything hen she would mention the name's 'Ammi' or 'Amaterasu'.

The two of them promised each other that they would figure out what happened. Why did they remember their names? If they didn't strike a chord in their hearts, what was the point of remembering a name that didn't make you feel anything? To Kairi she didn't want to forget the name 'Sora', and Riku didn't want to forget the name 'Amaterasu', still it seemed weird that they didn't have any memories to go with the name.

Riku had turned in sleep, which startled Kairi a bit, her blue eyes wandered back to some of the strands of silver hair that brushed up against his shoulders. His hair was down to half of his back. She had made a joke about how he looked like a girl from behind since one person from class had whistled at him, in a rather strange way.

**The City that Never Was **

The female chakram wielder watched several individuals run around in a circle of some sort. She watched as grey fabric rushed past her hazel eyes, and she smiled in content. Several of the individuals were groaning, while others were moaning in discontent. Xejicka lied against the bench staring up at the dark colored sky of the City that Never Was. Kingdom Hearts was slowly starting to appear, which meant that someone, or a lot of people, were starting to use the Keyblade to get rid of the Heartless. Xejicka closed her eyes trying to remember something, but it didn't come to mind.

In the distance someone stopped running, and they fell to their knees and collided with the cold asphalt of the street. Xejicka sat up and noticed that fallen individual and sighed:

"Did I tell you to stop?" she asked, and the other individual's continued running. The fallen figure picked himself up and panted shaking his head. "Why did you stop?" she asked, and noticed the figure refused to answer.

"I'm tired…" the figure said looking up at her. Xejicka shook her head and watched him for a moment. "I want to rest… I know the others do too."

"I'm not here to baby-sit, I'm here to train you guys." _Flurry of the Dancing Flames_ responded. The figure watched as she raised one finer slightly. She could feel the heat accumulate around her finger and within moments the feeling intensified until a single flame was visible. The figure gulped and started to pick up the pace.

"I've never seen anyone use fire in that way…" someone responded from behind her. She looked up slightly and grinned. "So this is what Number VII made you do since you took an _extended_ vacation."

"She's just mad because Ames is alive, that's all… heh, I remember she wanted me to go out and get rid of her, but Numero UNO overheard and vetoed that little plan of action." Xejicka said letting the flame dance around her fingers. "So what brings you here, Number II?" she asked looking at the hooded figure.

"95 percent mean anything to you?" Number II asked sitting down next to Number VIII. Xejicka thought about if for a moment and looked up at the _Freeshooter_. "I guess it does… the little dude and dudette are almost ready to wake up. You know what that means?"

"I've got to kidnap a girl?" Xejicka asked. "Because if I'm not mistaken, which I am not because I commit things to memory, Axel kidnapped Kairi to fuel Sora's rage and fight destroy more Heartless."

Xumyi, or Number II, as she was known laughed. She shook her head and patted Xejicka on the back. "You're always thinking far into the future…" she said pulling her hood down. Xumyi appeared to be around the age of thirty or so, but she still looked young for her age. She had long black hair that she kept in a ponytail, with visible grey streaks running down several huge chunks of hair, a noticeable eye patch on her left eye, and light yellow tinged eyes. "But… we can't go and kidnap her, Riku's on the island from what that one recruit said shortly before he was killed. Not to mention that Nusvext and Xauqa are there as well. We don't really want to get them involved for right now."

"What are you saying then, Xumyi? that we let them go for right now?" Xejicka asked. She noticed something in the distance. "You keep running until I say SO!" she threatened several of the new recruits.

"I'm saying that we and get Light and Dark." The _Freeshooter_ grinning. "They're the most important ones we need."

"Can't we just trick that Kairi girl, or Riku, into unlocking the power of the Compass?" Xejicka asked. "You can all stop now!" she ordered hew new trainees and several of them groaned, collapsing to the floor.

Xumyi watched as the recruits groaned and complained. While it may have been true that she was ranked to be second, that didn't make her second in command, no by a long shot. She was given various missions to do like open pathways, and more importantly get recruits for this strange Keyblade wielding army that the Superior wanted. '_They're not even the chosen one… what is that head honcho of ours thinking? Does he want these little people to just die on the battle field?_' Xumyi thought seriously.

"They aren't even the Keyblade's chosen one…" Xumyi said yawning. "These people really think they'll be able to deem themselves worthy of beating the Keyblade wielder."

"So long as they have strong hearts, whether they are touched by darkness or light, and hope burns strong for them, the Keyblade will deem them worthy of wielding it, but not using its true power." Xejicka said. "That's what Xehart and Xian, remember?"

"Yeah… You know that's the price we pay for relying on Raxter; he was the original one decades ago…" Xumyi said standing up, and placing her hood up once more. "Damn kid…" she said walking off. "Oh yeah…" she turned around quickly and smiled. "Don't forget you're in charge of cooking later tonight! See ya later dude!"

**Realm of Darkness **

Ames, the Memory Witch panted and landed on the cold grainy floor of the new realm. She felt her heart almost implode within her chest, the darkness within the portal had been too much for her at the time. She shook her silver hair out of her blue eyes and looked up at the two individuals before her. The Memory witch smiled in relief, and picked herself up hugging each individual separately. '_We made it…_' he mouthed out laughing in content. In the distance two individuals were fast asleep underneath the moonlight that the area cascaded on the strange yet peaceful beach.

"96 percent…" Ames said softly letting go of Abedo and Terra. "They just have to remember their _names_, and they'll be more than fine…"

"But what if they can't…?" Terra asked. "What would we do then?"

"Isn't it obvious…? We help them of course." The replica said pushing back some strands of brown hair from his face.

Terra looked around, for some reason he felt like he had been here before.

_"Of course you have… Remember, I took you and the others here once."_ It was a voice he had longed to forget. Terra shook his head drowning out the noise buried within his mind. He walked around the shore of the moonlit beach and looked around. The waves sounded the same and so did the scent of it, he could taste the salty air as he breathed in.

"I had to write in false memories…" Ames said sounding a bit remorseful. "Just in case if they did wake up too early. King Mickey was supposed to come and pick them up in Amber Pacific, but that didn't work out. So I had to make up some pretty believable events…" she said placing the tips of her fingers together. "This is all that they know…"

---

A young figure yawned for a moment lazily rolling over to the side, and mumbled something. "Uh…" she realized whose name she had called out in her sleep and pouted. The figure yawned again feeling something strum within her heart, it was nostalgia in a sense. She sat up and stretched for a moment, letting her muscles relax, and waking up her brain. "Another morning… another daaayyyyy…" she said yawning out the last word lazily and fell back on her bed, surrounded in pastel blue sheets with black and dark blue checkered borders all around. She was wearing pastel blue shorts and a white undershirt.

"DARK!" someone yelled from downstairs, it sounded oddly familiar. She covered her head again with the pillow and tried to go back to sleep. "DA…RK…!" the voice stretched out her name now. "WAKEY, WAKEY, NOW!" she tried to drowning out the yells but it was no use as of right now.

"NO!" the girl cried out opening her door and slamming it again. The sound of feet rushed up the flight of stairs, and she didn't have enough time to lock the entrance. Before long she was pouting at the figure in front of her. There was a male teenager wearing a black undershirt and beige shorts. "Light, you idiot, do you have any idea what time it is?!" she said pointing to the alarm clock in her room.

"One, fifteen in the afternoon…" Light said blinking back in confusion to the girl. "Where the heck is your brain?"

"That's what I'd like to know…" she said stretching again. "Did you save me some breakfast…?" she asked laughing nervously. Light nodded and sighed.

"Now, come on, Dark. We get to go home today!" Light said happily jumping up and down. "Oh man, wait till they see us now!" he said almost skipping for joy!

"Don't do that in public…" the girl said known as Dark. Light sighed and smiled back at the girl. The girl in turn smiled to Light, the boy. "So then, today's the day…" she said spinning around for a moment. "YES!" she cried out pumping her fist into the air.

"Last one to the table is a Heartless!" Light said racing his friend down the flight of stairs quickly.

"I like Heartless…" Dark said softly taking her time as she walked towards the table now. She descended the flight of stairs, and slowly made her way to the cold tiled floor. 'I should've worn socks…' she thought as she felt goose bumps ride up her skin.

A young woman greeted the two of them today instead of the man of this here household. She was a pleasant woman, roughly around her late 30s, with short brown hair and green eyes. The woman always wore a smile on her face, and she is was the house nanny when the owner was out of town or at work. "I trust the two of you slept well?" the woman asked and both of the teenager nodded happily. "You excited about going home now?" the woman asked, watching the bright happy smiles on their face. "Good, now eat up, I saved you two breakfast. I'll tell Mr. Brooks you said goodbye."

"Thank you Ms. Lila Ser!" the two of them said running towards the breakfast table.

"Hey… I thought you ate breakfast…" Light shook his head as Dark asked the question. "I was waiting for you to get up, Uma-" Dark caught him off by stuffing toast in his mouth.

"You know we can't…" she whispered harshly, eyeing Ms. Lila Ser, "Only Mr. Brooks knows our real names… If the others… You know they'd kill us all in a heart beat!" she said and picked up her cup of coffee, and sipped it slightly. "Sorry Light, we're stuck with these nicknames till we leave the town."

Light sighed heavily and complied with the rule, it was true after all. They ate their breakfast as quickly as they could and soon after they went into their own separate rooms to gather their things, and get dressed. Light came out of his room wearing a shirt that had a checkered border at the bottom, and a silver design on the front, it looked like a giant X, and running down the middle of the shirt was a zipper. On top of that he wore a modified black shirt that acted as a sweater, with one buckle to close it (but he never does), and a hood in back of it. He wore gloves of the same design as his shirt, not the one with the hood. He wore black shorts, that went a bit further down to his knees, with silver lining, and had some loops attached to them and pockets, and black shoes with silver straps.

Light sighed for a moment and walked across the hall and knocked on the door with a medium black dot in the middle. This was how they told the rooms apart, Dark had a black spot on her door, and Light had a white spot on his.

"Are you ready?" he called out hearing her singing something, "come on Dark we're going to be late!"

"Coming…" she said sighing for a moment. 'Mr. Brooks is risking his life just by feeding us, let alone letting us live here…' Dark thought and finished tying her shoelaces.

Dark stood up and looked at herself in the mirror and smiled looking pleased with her reflection. She wore black cargo pants with shoes that matched, not to mention several pockets on the sides of the pant legs. Her t-shirt had a strange heart shaped insignia on the front in red stitching, and on the back were little wings stitched in white. Gloves covered her hand as they had the same design as her shirt, but she didn't wear a sweater like her friend Light. She paused for a moment as her hand lightly rested on the doorknob.

**Viator of Atrum, Atrum Procer, Volo vos puteus in vestri iter itineris **

"Thank you," she said smiling happily. "I'm grateful for having you watch over us." Dark said turning the knob on the door. "Oh… wait…" the most important thing she forgot was tucked inside one of the drawers from the night stand. She ran back and searched through the piles of clothing stacked inside. "Thank the gods…" the teen whispered pulling out the items, placing the two keychains within her grasp.

**Vir of Lux lucis, Electus Unus of vesica of key, Volo vos puteus in vestri iter itineris **

Light nodded whispering 'thanks' and watched as Dark came out stuffing something into her pocket. "Let's go…" the male teenager said walking down the stairs. "Bye Ms. Ser!" they both said and walked towards the wooden door. "Take care you two!" the woman replied. Dark walked out the door and waited for Light on the other side, he was still in the house. The male teen checked around the living room to make sure the woman was out of sight and then opened the lid of a grand piano stationed in the corner. He pulled out a necklace with two pendants, and one keychain and a letter with a stamp on it.

With that the two walked off down the street of this town, and watched the sun as it started to move about in the sky. Dark looked back at the elegant house in which they had stayed in, and sighed knowing that she was going to miss the company of the man they called Mr. Brooks. Light was going to miss the old man's company as well; he had been very kind to them when they arrived. The female teen pulled the letter away from her companion and looked at it. "So then, we're suppose to meet them at 5?" she asked, and Light nodded looking at the road ahead. There was only one path there in that grassy field. "Let's run for it…" he said with a smirk on his face as the two sprinted across the path.

Dark watched as they came across the sign that read 'Thank you for visiting Amber Pacific'. They were out of the town now, and they both expressed their happiness. Light placed the necklace over his head and breathed in the air like if it had a different aroma to it. Dark stretched again feeling her muscle ache a bit after the run. She pulled out the keychain she stuffed into her pocket, and held it out towards the sun watching it gleam for a while. "It's been so long…" she said smiling happily.

"Hey!" Dark stuffed her keychain back into her pocket, and Light took off the necklace quickly and forced it down his pocket. The two looked ahead past the horizon and noticed something running towards them. "Shit…" the two teens said hearing something call them out, "this better not be an ambush…" Light said looking back at Dark. The teen girl growled feeling her fingers grow, and fangs brushing against her lips. "Relax…" the boy said looking back at his companion, but her eyes turned yellow, "they haven't done anything yet."

"I can sense them though…" the girl said growling more. "They're at the horizon, waiting for us to move." They both noticed the solo figure coming to a stop halfway.

"I got you now you bastards!" the figure said yelling triumphantly. "You can't run away from us forever!"

At the sound of the figure's last words shadows emerged from the ground around the boy and the girl, and they stood back to back now. "This is just great…" Dark said hissing at the Heartless around her. "I know… I'm looking forward to kicking their ass, it's been a while," Light said smirking. "But we can't…"

"I know Light," the girl said jumping forward with her claws ready to strike. "Not until we get home…" a Neo Shadow jumped into the air mimicking her moves with swift speed. She lifted her knee and bashed the head of the Neo Shadow with her leg. It fell down and several other yellow eyed Heartless moved forward.

"Freeze!" Light said noticing that some Neo Shadows stopped moving within the time frame. He let his body turn as black as night and felt his claws connect with the flesh of the dark creatures. He ripped through the arms of the shadows, and stabbed one in the chest. Time finally moved forward for the injured Heartless and they twitched as the blows finally caught up to their bodies. The figure in the distance smirked and ran forward with his weapon held high in the air. Dark finished her part, not even using her whole strength and looked back at Light, he had gone wild with his feral state.

She looked back and noticed the familiar weapon as the male figure came running down the path. '_No…_' she thought running forward letting her friend take care of the rest. The figure watched as Dark stood in the path of his blade. "Now you DIE!" the figure said bringing his Keyblade down, a dark aura hovered over the girl's body and she smirked, time moved slow for her now. Dark put her palms together within less than a nano-second and caught the mysterious weapon, it was five millimeters away from striking her head.

"What was that you said about dying?" she asked flashing her yellows at the figure, she smiled menacingly. The figure could only see her black Heartless like body, her white fangs, and terrifying yellow eyes. "Now listen here you lowlife… I… WANT… TO… GO… HOME!" she yelled violently, and a scream erupted from the figures throat.

---

"That's all I've planted into their memories, for the two of them…" Ames said softly. In her arms she carried a strange looking bag filled with items. "I did do more, but it'd take to long to explain right now…" she said softly. Terra and Abedo looked down at the sleeping figures and sighed shaking their heads.

**Destiny** **Islands**

"I remember!" Kairi shouted out. "I remember, I remember!" she sang happily dancing about in the wooden chair. Vieh, the silver bundle of fur, woke up with his ears perked up. He noticed that Kairi was dancing happily for some odd reason. "He's the guy I love!"

"What?" Vieh couldn't help but ask. Upon knowing that she wasn't the only conscious one in the room she blushed in her realization. "Heh…" the small hound couldn't help but laugh at her reaction. "It's taken a couple of months, but you remembered." He said proudly, and still his lips didn't move.

Kairi leaned forward in the chair and looked at the silver bundle of fur that had yellow tinged eyes. "How did you know?" she asked looking at the creature oddly.

"Just because Riku said I was created from him, doesn't mean _I am him_. My memories weren't affected because there is no real chain attaching me to my master's heart. Riku being my master is more than enough. Besides an animal doesn't have a _heart_ in the spiritual sense." The little silver colored hound said softly.

Kairi let out a soft "oh" and leaned back in her chair. "I'm upset… I forgot about someone so important to me…" she said sadly.

"In the end though, they come back to you. So you had nothing to lose…" the little beast said, letting his tail sway from side to side. "I wonder what those two are doing now…" he pondered about it and looked behind him.

"Sora's probably taking a nap somewhere…" Kairi said looking back at Riku. "I wonder what he's dreaming about…"

"About her…" Vieh said sniffing his master slightly. "It'll take a while… but I'm sure he will remember."

Riku noticed that there a lot of moving pictures on a strange wall. The walls were black with picture frames that played different scenes of years gone by. His turquoise eyes noticed that some scenes were blurry, and he found it strange. The silver haired teen noticed that this started to happen months ago, when they had gone back home. He turned around and noticed someone wearing dark capri shorts and a light colored shirt. The figure was female with silver hair, light blue eyes, and brown colored skin. For some reason she looked oddly familiar.

"Who are you?" Riku couldn't help but ask. He was surprised that he could speak in this dream.

"That's sad Riku, you don't remember me?" the figure couldn't help but sound hurt, and yet she managed to smile through the pain.

"You seem familiar…" Riku said softly. "But… You're not _her_, are you?"

"I'll give you a hint… My name start's with an 'A'…" she said chuckling. "Do you know now?" she asked rubbing the side of her head. Riku thought about all the different names that came to mind. He looked around noticing a familiar scene. It was of a girl with dark blue streaks in her hair, and a little dog in her arms.

"Amaterasu…" he said softly. The silver haired teen gasped, and looked back but the figure was long gone by now…

Vieh jumped slightly feeling Riku sit up straight.

"I remember!" he said moving his injured hand as a reflex. "gah!" he winced holding his injured arm, and laughed through the pain. "I know why she's special to me… It's because…"

**Realm of Darkness **

"Sora. Sora? Sora?! WAKE UP?!" a female yelled shaking the slightly unconscious figure. The spiky haired teen opened his eyes, and everything seemed a bit blurry at first. He closed his eyes once more, but something jerked him to open his eyes once more. Dark brown eyes met with blue eyes, and the female sighed in relief, letting go of the young Keyblade Master. "Sora!" she said softly, and hugged the boy with all of her might.

"Hey sis…" he said jokingly, and patted her on the back. Sora pulled away from the girl, Amaterasu, and smiled. "I hope…" he yawned, "we didn't sleep for a long time…"

"We got separated from King Mickey…" the brown skinned girl said softly. She pushed back some strands of dark brown hair away from her face. "Do you remember?" she asked him. He nodded and looked out into the distance.

"Riku and I… we came here to this place after we defeated Xemnas…" Sora said softly, placing one knee closer to his body, and the other one was stretched out. "and now, I'm here with you…" he said smiling. "My adopted sis, and partner in crime."

"I'm surprised you remember that promise." Amaterasu said stretching. Her hand slide across the cold sand, and she touched cold leather. She looked surprised and turned around. There before her eyes was a familiar looking black coat, and new clothing on top of it. Sora did the same and immediately grabbed the new clothing, and stared longingly at the Organization cloak.

"I'm going back?" a voice asked, as Sora's lips moved. Sora blinked in confusion, and Amaterasu titled her head slightly.

"Roxas…" the two said in unison and sighed. Things were strange, but they had faced stranger things. Sora disappeared behind a rock with his newly acquired clothing, and proceed to change.

Sora came out of his room wearing a shirt that had a checkered border at the bottom, and a silver design on the front, it looked like a giant X, and running down the middle of the shirt was a zipper. On top of that he wore a modified black shirt that acted as a sweater of some sort, with one buckle to close it (but he never does), and a hood in back of it. He wore gloves of the same design as his shirt, not the one with the hood. He wore black shorts, that went a bit further down to his knees, with silver lining, and had some loops attached to them and pockets, and black shoes with silver straps.

Amaterasu took the time to change as Sora had started to change. She wore black cargo pants with shoes that matched, not to mention several pockets on the sides of the pant legs. Her t-shirt had a strange heart shaped insignia on the front in red stitching, and on the back were little wings stitched in white. Gloves covered her hand as they had the same design as her shirt, but she didn't wear a sweater like her friend Sora.

The two of them had their new coats tucked safely underneath their arms. The wielders of Light and Darkness were back. This time they treaded through the realm of darkness. This is where their adventure begins on this moonlit beach. Sora looked back at Amaterasu, his 'Big Sister' as he had called her from time to time, as she placed her new coat on. She in turn waited from him to do the same before heading off traversing the shore of the outskirts of the realm of darkness.

"Let's go…" Amaterasu said softly.

**A/N: **You know what to do **_one_** review please!


	4. IV

**A/N:** Here's the next chapter you guys. Author's note, we're doing a slight crossover right now. You'll find out what I mean if you've played Beyond Good and Evil.

**Sonic 13:** Thanks for the review buddy. I hope to see you in the forums soon. Also yes, I'm glad that Sora and Ammi are finally back, just don't expect it to be all rainbows and kittens. I know I do have some loyal reviewers here, so thanks Greg.

**Xejicka:** Yeah the pairing thought crossed my mind when I had originally written the first story, but nope. There are hints, but heck nothing happens in here. Anyway thanks for the review my loyal reviewer.

**Rozen-senpai:** How have you been? Thank you very much for the review. I originally wrote the names out some time earlier for the OCs within the new Organization, but I'm changing some at the moment which is why the other members don't appear in this chapter. But thank you for the advice on what I need to do.

Now on with the story! Again it's all un-betaed.

**Chapter 4: Regnum of Obscurum** (The Realm of Darkness)

Three identical pairs of blue eyes watched the figures disappear deeper into the moonlit beach. The silence didn't phase the three figures for a while.

"Hey… shouldn't we go after them? Or at least follow them?" the replica broke the stillness; he couldn't stand it any longer. Two pairs of blue eyes looked at him slightly then back to the figures in the distance. "I mean what if…?"

"We'll just be there to guide them along the way." The Memory Witch said softly humming a bit.

"Huh, we're babysitting now?" Terra asked softly looking at Ames' left hand for a moment. It twitched a bit when she was thinking. The original and replica noticed a strange looking bag discarded by a couple of dark jagged rocks.

"Still I'm not all that calm about those two waking up like that…" she said feeling concern for some reason. "The extra implanted memories might have taken up some space upon their restoration… It could be that the others may remember their names, but not the feeling it invokes _when_ they remember… OR maybe-"

"Don't forget that you interfered as well." Both Terra and the replica, Abedo said. Ames just squinted; she didn't have all the answers this time around. From here on out they would have to play it all by their gut feelings and with their hearts.

"I know you owe Roxas and Sora an explanation…" Ames said looking back at Terra. His eyes widened with shock at the realization.

"You… Those were personal memories!" Terra said feeling outraged. "You… You gave me your-"

"I _am still_ the current Memory Witch." Ames said waving her left hand slightly. "I can do what I want with memories… erase, re-write… or even shatter the heart." She said and placed one slender finger on Terra's chest. "You'd best remember it…" she said softly and walked past the two males, picking up her strange discarded bag, and walked after Sora and Amaterasu. "Are you two coming?"

Abedo and Terra exchanged confused glances to one another, and noticed the silver hared female walk away, the moonlight giving her a strange aura of some sort. Abedo had no memories, of which Ames spoke of to his original, nor did he really seem to pay interest to it. The two just followed after her slowly catching up for a while and they paused looking back at the full moon that reflected against the water's surface. For a place composed on the outskirts of darkness it was beautiful.

**With Sora and Amaterasu **

"Do you know where you're going?" Sora asked leaning forward a bit, trying to catch the facial expression of his soon to be sibling. She didn't speak; she only looked away from him once in a while trying to think. _"What's wrong, Ammi?" _a voice entered her mind. Amaterasu shook her head. _"You can't hear his voice, can you?"_ he asked her, and she looked down.

"For right now, I think we should concentrate on going someplace…" Amaterasu said not looking back at Sora.

"Oh… right…" he picked up that pace and looked back. The spiky haired teen thought he was being followed, but he saw no one behind him. The shore was empty not a single _soul_ in sight. He shook his head and followed the slightly taller female in his view. The dark haired teen stopped for a moment and looked to the side. Sora's blue eyes followed and he noticed something scurry up the shore line. '_A Heartless?_' he couldn't help but think about that.

"I don't think it was one…" the brown skinned girl replied looking back at the slightly short male. Amaterasu gave him a small smile and the two continued to walk, to where ever it was the path led them on. "You know… we don't have a Gummi Ship…" she said softly looking back at Sora. He nodded in agreement and thought about it some more. Something broke their thoughts as the two mimicked the same motion, something was making noise in the distance. It wasn't from a Heartless, or a human, they knew for certain it wasn't human.

Sora ran up the curved hill with his opposite right behind him, and they came to a strange gathering that was in the distance. Before their eyes, there were strange sarcophagus looking beasts as far as the eyes could see. From what the two could make out from the darkness of the area, the beast, or rather the creature had the torso of a man, but no feet. The waist down was cut off by a strange tangle of aged bandages, and the whole body was wrapped with it. In the middle of the boy there was a strange opening of some sort tinged with green, it looked menacing to the Keyblade wielders. Amaterasu scanned the area with her dark brown eyes, there were a lot of them down in the area.

Sora's blue eyes moved across the field and a strange ship caught his attention. The dark skinned girl felt a pair of hands force her head to turn slightly and she looked at the ship. The hands moved the head downward and the two of them noticed a figure. There in-between the entrance to the ship and the crowd of 'Sarcophagus Beings' was a figure that stood tall over the creatures like a statue and it was the one that was speaking. Sora let his hands drop down to his side as he moved one foot, but pulled back quickly. The two wielders of the elements gulped as they heard a loose rock tumble down. The blue eyed teen laughed nervously and backed away. One of the 'Sarcophagus Begins' looked up feeling something flick its shoulder.

Both of the Keyblade wielders laughed nervously as their action caught the attention of the taller more human looking creature. All the creatures there started to move towards them, some crawling using their arms, or floating. Sora moved back at bit and noticed Amaterasu did the same, but she held onto something that was at her side. Her Keyblade appeared in a flash of black and purple, and the creatures seized their advances. Sora followed in suite and summoned Kingdom Key with a flash of light, and the creatures moved back a bit. The taller figure advanced forward, a hood draped over it. The figure parted a path of its 'subjects' as it hovered through the air to reach the two humans.

Amaterasu moved in between Sora and the creature with her Keyblade in front of her and the spiky haired teen. Sora looked at her in confusion for a moment, and then he moved his body to the side a bit, and he caught sight of the hooded figure. Sora looked at the back of Amaterasu's head and then back to the new figure. The two teen growled, looking at the shrouded figure. The shrouded figure leaned forward examining the two individuals from the covering of its disguise and it hissed when it found something. Somehow it spoke:

"Keyblade bearers…" it hissed violently. "Bear of salvation. Bear of chaos…" its green eyes glared down at Sora and then to the female in front. "Darkness has no place here…" the figure instructed and looked at Sora. "Nor does the light. The Domz need only humans, not elements." The voice breathed down their necks. "Leave." It demanded, and the two humans didn't make a sound as the creature looked at them with glowing green eyes. Their weapons were withdrawn, and the figure started to move back.

The two teens watched the figure retire, and at times the creatures would look back up at them, speaking amongst themselves about something. Sora muttered something, and watched for a brief moment as his sister walked away. They were lost within the realm of Darkness. Sora wondered if they made a raft, would they be able to go to another world. He wanted to true and find out, to see if it would be true or not. His blue eyes noticed that the tall figure continued to instruct its 'people'. Sora looked back at the strange tinged ship, it gave off an eerie feeling when he looked at it, and yet he felt a small glimmer of hope.

He groaned; things were different this time around. The spiky haired teen didn't have Donald or Goofy, and no Gummi ship at this present time. His dark colored shoes moved across the sand taking his whole body back to where Amaterasu had wandered off to. The two of them were siblings now, which meant they would have to look out for one another at all costs. Sora watched his older 'sibling' lost in thought. Her legs were hugged close to her body and her head was put down, resting on her knees.

"Those Domz guys are jerks." Sora said growling for a moment. He flopped down next to her on the sandy area and hid ear caught a couple of words that escaped her mouth.

"I look at you forever, and never see the two of us together," he watched her smile and chuckled shaking his head. "Thos Domz guys are a-holes." She said loud and clear. "I really hope they fall in a ditch and die." Sora noticed that she meant ever word of it, and he patted her on the head. Amaterasu shook her head ad noticed that her bangs had gotten longer as of course did her hair.

Amaterasu noticed several changes in her little 'brother's' appearance. He was taller, and his hair had gotten longer, but it was still as spiky as ever. He still had that innocent look on his face. He never lost his smile, or his caring blue eyes. He was beginning to age into an adult, but he still had much to learn about the nature of the world. Sora was still a bit naïve, but his sense of justice was still as strong as ever. Blue eyes locked with dark brown orbs, and her eyes darted away. The spiky haired wielder yawned and stretched a bit trying to forget the awkward stare from seconds ago. Sora sighed and looked back; the Domz had not taken off on their ship.

"Sorry," the girl spoke softly, and Sora looked at her gloved hands. "I just noticed how much you've changed. You're growing up." Sora smirked hearing that from her. The male Keyblade wielder took the time and notice her visible face, she still had the innocence of a child, and yet she had lived through the good and bad times, with still more to come. The Keyblade's Chosen One knew that time had stopped for her, that's why she still looked so young. He knew her inside and out, better than anyone in the whole universe, as she did of him. The spiky haired brunette sighed and moved his head side to side to soften his neck.

"Keep moving. Something's following us." the blonde Nobody said taking control of Sora's mouth. "It's not safe here for the three of us."

"Thanks, Roxas." Sora and Amaterasu said looking up at the night sky. The two figures in black Organization robes trekked through the sand once more.

**With Terra **

"Whoa…" Abedo watched the massive engines of an airship lift up its body and hover for a few moments before it would set to take off. Terra looked at the debris left over and watched the glow of the engines disappear slowly, going higher and higher. Ames felt the heat linger from the engines, and she watched the ship become another bright light in the sky. The silver haired, blue eyed Memory Witch looked back at the two male figures that walked forward in her direction. She waited for hem, and the two males exchanged some confused glances with one another and shrugged.

"Why would they pick this place for a meeting?" Ames asked herself looking back at the water. It moved slowly, seemingly untouched by the darkness around it.

"Do you know who that was?" Abedo asked stepping forward. Ames said she did not know and looked down at the sand. There were heavy impressions pressed against the sand, _they_ had been here already. Terra looked around, he had the feeling that another presence was here as well. He didn't like feeling he received. It seemed to be human, but the energy categorized itself with that of a Keyblade wielders, but it wasn't from Sora or Amaterasu.

Ames and the replica looked back at Terra. He had grown quiet, and it was something the other two took into consideration. Something was stirring in the air; all three of them could feel the electricity that was gathering from one spot. Something or someone was gathering up energy for something of immense strength. The Enigmatic Soldier, as he was once called walked forward and led the way for now. Something in the back of his head told him that a fight would break out soon just beyond the area.

It brought back a brief memory…

_"I had too…" __Ames__ said softly as all of them moved through the dark portal. _

_Terra sighed and looked back as Castle Oblivion was no longer in view. The Memory Witch intended to cover up their tracks very effectively. Abedo noticed that there was an opening far ahead, the light was clearly visible on that side of the portal. _

_"You did what you had to do." Abedo said looking at __Ames__ for a moment. He knew that Terra wasn't happy with the plan of action that the Memory Witch had decided to take, but it was better than being sitting ducks. He heard her sigh, but he couldn't catch the last words that she had muttered. Terra on the other hand did. _

_"You could've found another way." He answered back harshly. _

_"There was NO other way." __Ames__ said looking back at him. "It's better this way. The Organization can carry on with their task." _

_"They'll figure out soon enough that they are-" _

_"Just go with it Terra." The replica said. The brown haired male stopped and looked back at the replica trying to understand why he said that. "She's in charge for right now, not us." _

Ames apologized softly and Terra looked behind him to find his companion put her head down. Silver strands covered her blue eyes and she shook her head. He noticed a small flicker from her eyes as they looked back at the water, and she mumbled something. He didn't hear it, and he sighed, apologizing in his own way.

"If you two saps are done, let's go. We can't stay here." Abedo said rolling his eyes.

"So… we've got to pretend that Sora and Ammi are dead…" Terra grinned. "It shouldn't be too hard."

"You say that right now, pretty boy." Ames said pushing her hair back. "But I can guarantee you that it's not walk in the park, not by a long shot." The Memory Witch said with a big smile. "Now, lead the way, Master Xehanort's avenger."

The Enigmatic Soldier walked forward trying hard to recover from those three little words. He had tried hard to forget his old title, but it didn't go as planned. Ames had rejected the idea of reconstructing his memories. There was a good reason why, but that was something he still had to figure out. He loathed those words with a passion. Terra knew that she was joking, but still those words plucked deep chords in his heart. So much rage and hate, thrown at one person.

"…" Terra let the words fall flatly on his lips. "Don't call me that again."

**Castle Oblivion **

A figure walked through the broken hallways of the once proud castle that had been placed there since long ago. The figure knew the history of this castle as much as the member before her did. Which meant; she knew almost nothing of this building's past. The hazel eyed Soulless hummed to herself a song that her good friend had taught her back when things seemed to be at peace. She moved through the broken hallways, past the broken columns, the cracked floors, the wrecked walls. The _Flurry of Dancing Flames_ was searching for someone, not something.

Xejicka stopped at the entrance to the pod room, and hesitated a bit before letting her gloved hand rest on the knob. Something didn't seem right, but she wasn't going to stop, she had already made the effort of coming up here. The white knob moved and white colored door opened. She expected to find the replica, the Memory Witch, and Terra there, along with Sora and Amaterasu but…

"…What the hell?" she looked around the room. Blood splattered against the opened petals of the pod, and decorated some of the white tiles near the flower like pod. A brown skin colored hand rested lifeless against the opening of the pod, and blood had been caked onto it. She looked to the other pod and noticed that Sora's lifeless eyes were staring eerily at her. Xejicka could feel something stir within her, but she couldn't just act on it, and then she noticed the white table. Black gloved hands moved across the table on which Ames had taken up, and her skilled hands moved across the surface finding the projection. She noticed some words written in a report:

_'From the second Memory Witch… _

_This project has failed, and I can hear the fighting going on from inside something is trying to get in here. I don't have enough strength to take the two back with us. In other words I'm saying they won't make it. They haven't woken up… Terra's yelling something. Crap, this is bad. I should leave soon as well. Who ever does find this can most likely assume the worst. The "Key" is dead, and so is the other one when you find them here somewhere. Superior was right, I was being foolish for trying this, it was hopeless to hold on to that dream, and this is where I stop writing.'_

Xejicka growled feeling the energy rise within her and she could feel the flames around her. '_That idiot!_' she mentally cursed clenching her jaw closed and growling. '_Where are they?_' she looked around, but all that accompanied her was silence.

"Terra…" she said softly but her delicacy changed. "Where are you?!" she yelled out.

The words echoed across the empty halls. It was only natural for Number VIII to worry about Number XIII just as the former 'Flurry of the Dancing Flames' had done when Sora _had_ been alive. She downloaded the information onto a small memory-stick and could feel the anger still in her body. It needed an escape, and she knew what to do. She could see the ashes moving in the air, and the white pods started to droop with more and more heat and flames added to it. Articles of clothing added more fuel to the fire, and soon there was no color of nothingness, but of darkness. Number VIII disappeared with a sudden burst of flames taking the memory-stick with her, and strange feeling directed towards the Memory Witch.

**Castle that Never Was **

"The Domz Empire?" the sitar wielding member asked as Number VII made her appearance. "Those weird looking bunch? Ugh, I can't stand those idiots." Xehart said shaking his head. Number VII pulled her hood down and sighed, staring at Xehart with a cold gaze.

"You shall treat our _guests_ with respect. They _are_ after all _our_ allies." She said in a very strict and commanding voice. She wasn't one to toy with, unless you wanted to taste the ground that much more quickly. Xian had light yellow eyes mixed with some tinges of hazel, and light blue colored hair mimicked after the moon's shine on someone. Her ears were slightly pointed at the tip, and several earrings decorated her hearing appendages. "Speaking of _allies_, where is Xejicka?" she asked.

"She said she went to go and check up on something." Xehart answered sincerely. Number VII rolled her eyes and looked forward at the white colored door. Their guest would be arriving soon enough. The _Melodious Nocturne _went on to state that she would be back soon enough, and Xian seemed to relax for several seconds. The Superior had put her in charge of all this, and she was starting to let it all go to her head, she wanted this to be perfect. "What about the wielders? Shouldn't they be coming with us as well?"

"We're only sending two members with them." Xian stated. she looked in back of her. Her well trained ears heard footsteps from behind the two of them, about a couple of meters away from their position. "Look who decided to show up." The _Lunar Diviner_ chuckled.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever she-wolf." Xejicka said shaking her head. "Can't a girl have some time to herself?" she asked handing Number VII a small memory stick. "There's your report."

Number VII whistled in delight, and looked up at her:

"You mostly give me _your_ reports two weeks after. Why so speedy all of a sudden?" Xian asked tucking the piece of hardware into her coat pocket.

"There's some information worth your liking." Xejicka said returning the gesture. "So then, what's going on?"

"The Domz Empire." Xehart said rubbing the side of his head. "Those guys are going to close a deal with Organization XIII today." He said looking back at the huge white entrance. "You and I are escorts."

"…" Xejicka felt the corner of her mouth twitch, but she was in no mood to argue with Xian. If it had been any other day she would've been more than happy to, but she wasn't up to it right now. "Fine." And with that Xian left and are walking up the flight of stairs, no doubt to go and scan through the report.

Xehart sighed, he was glad that Xejicka didn't argue with the second in command, or else things would've gotten ugly, and there wasn't enough time to clean up the aftermath of that incident. The _Flurry of the Dancing Flames_ sighed and opened the white doors with her companion right behind her. The two of them stood at the entrance of the monotone colored doors and watched as something was entering the atmosphere of their world.

"You think they're going to stop at the city?" Xehart asked turning his head to the side for a moment; his green eyes were still fixed on the airship that was approaching their skies.

"I really don't want to walk all the way to the entrance of the city… I hear it's going to rain." She said looking up at the sky. The borders of the other worlds were beginning to fall signaling the touch of darkness was spreading.

**Realm of Darkness **

"You aren't one of our guys." A hooded figure said pulling out a weapon. It was a Keyblade. Sora and Amaterasu looked at one another and then to the weapon that was there.

"Three Wishes…" the two individuals said softly. The hooded figure lowered his weapon for a moment, but then brought it up quickly.

Another figure appeared from behind the wielder of Three Wishes, and brought out a weapon of their own. A strange claw like image was its keychain, and Sora remembered it immediately. He called it out by its name, and the figure that wielded it stepped back a bit, its name was Crabclaw. The one wielding Crabclaw asked how those two knew about such a weapon, but they didn't answer at all. Instead Sora brought out Kingdom Key and Amaterasu brought out Oblivion. The two opposing individuals ran forward with heir Keyblade ready to strike the wielders of Light and Darkness.

Amaterasu jumped back avoiding Crabclaw with ease. Their opponents didn't fully understand the nature of their weapons like Sora and she did. Sora sidestepped to the right, and blocked Three Wishes with Kingdom Key, hearing the metallic clang as it shook through his body. The male figure growled and pulled back, and Sora didn't miss a step he ran forward and brought his Keyblade to the side ready to strike when the time was right. The wielder of Three Wishes moved his Keyblade downwards, but Sora evaded moving to the left, and as his black colored shoes stopped moving he spun to the side with his Keyblade connecting with his opponent's shoulder.

Amaterasu moved back as her opponent jumped forward with Crabclaw in full view. The way the figure moved, she guessed it was a female fighter. '_Man… This is just great…_' she thought bringing Oblivion up and she blocked the attack with ease. _"Sora this isn't a good fight… They're just kids."_ Her mind echoed through Sora's consciousness. Sora nodded, and pushed back his opponent, almost coming into contact with the weapon. Oblivion gleamed in the moonlight, and her opponent flinched as Amaterasu discarded the Keyblade quickly. Within moment the hooded figure saw the change in Amaterasu's eyes, she was going through a transformation of some sort.

The spiky haired teen looked to the side and noticed a strange dark colored creature lunge forward attacking the opposing Keyblade wielder. Blue looked forward and watched as a blade moved through the air. Sora flinched for a moment, and watched as a dark tentacle projection caught the opposing Keyblade. Amaterasu's eyes were glowing in the moonlight, it was a very strange tinge of yellow, the opponent thought, and brought their Keyblade towards their body in a defensive stance. The strange tentacle disappeared and Sora took his chance to knock the Keyblade out of their opponent's hand. The figure gulped feeling the Keyblade close to their neck. The touch of could steel against flesh scared the figure.

The wielder of Crabclaw let out a small growl as their Keyblade moved in an upward movement, with deadly force. Amaterasu dodged the attack with ease, her body was now as black as night, and she could move with the agility of the Neoshadows. The hooded figure panted, her energy was starting to slip, and Amaterasu could feel it. The vibrations that her opponent's Keyblade gave out matched the frantic beating of the hooded figure's heart. Sora blocked looked at his unarmed opponent and sighed withdrawing his weapon, there was no point in fighting him unarmed. But that was a mistake; the figure lunged forward and tackled him to the ground with brute force. Amaterasu head her companion yell out in pain and yellows eyes stared down at the opponent.

The female holding Crabclaw watched as her opponent moved away, all attention was focused on the person that dropped the spiky haired teen. The wielder of the Keyblade, Crabclaw, called out to her fallen partner, but he couldn't hear. The wielder of Three Whishes turned around and saw something with yellow glowing eyes lunge towards him.

"Get off him!" the creature growled as it charged with brute strength.

The new wielder jumped off of the spiky haired teen and ran towards the spot where Three Wishes was. He picked up the handle of the blade quickly, and spun around with the blade outward. Amaterasu pulled back clawing at the sand as she came to a complete stop. Sora picked up Kingdom Key at his side and ran forward, leaping out of Amaterasu's shadow. The dark skinned girl turned around and saw the female figure from before ran forward with Crabclaw raised into the air. '_Defend!_' her mind rang out and Way to Night appeared blocking the other Keyblade. Amaterasu smirked and felt her claw sink into the leather flesh of her opposing member's jacket. The figure let out a cry in pain.

Sora felt Kingdom Key connect with the male member's arm. The wielder of the element of light looked around and noticed that several Neoshadows appeared from the depths of the darkness, something had called them here. His blue eyes darted back to his Heartless looking companion, he saw the white toothy grin from the Heartless like creature, he knew at that point she had called them here. Sora returned back to his battle and blocked the other Keyblade with ease. He locked the blade with his, and pulled back disarming the figure. The blue eyed teen gripped both Kingdom Key and Three Wishes grinning.

"Give up. You lost." Sora said noticing that the figure had sighed in defeat.

Amaterasu ran forward with a horde of Neoshadows mimicking her movements. She disappeared into the floor moving like the lesser Shadows and her yellow eyes became visible as she jumped out from the puddle of darkness. The opposing female wielder watched the yellow eyes glow in the moonlight, and it was enough to catch her off guard. The female wielder ran backwards avoiding attacks from the Heartless and Amaterasu. She could feel the water move in and out; she was only up to her ankles in water. The Neoshadows could sense the kind heart in their master's opponent and they craved the delicacy to no end.

The wielder flinched as one Neoshadow walked forward onto the shore, it was growling and hissing. The water didn't seem to hold it back and the wielder felt her hands shaking. '_I told them not to put me as a wielder… I just wanted to help with magic…_' she thought sadly.

"Firaga!" the wielder cried out pointing Crabclaw at the advancing Neoshadow.

Amaterasu in her Heartless form flinched back as the ball of flames traveled through the air in its straight path. She followed the orange and yellow flaming ball and watched it collide with one of the Heartless around her. Another one took its place and ran through the ashes of the fallen one, the flames still hadn't subsided but the Heartless didn't care. The female wielder flinched and placed another spell but she hesitated at the last moment.

"Tell her to stop." The male wielder instructed. Sora looked back at him; there was sincerity in the tone of his voice. "Please, tell her to stop. I'm begging you."

Sora's blue eyes looked at him and titled his head in confusion. The figure repeated his plea again quickly. The Keyblade's Chosen One felt his eyes widen at the realization. He looked back quickly at the advancing Heartless, the clawed hand of the Neoshadow. The creature moved through the sand and the female wielder brought Crabclaw closer towards her body with energy, ready to strike it down with a spell.

_"Stop! Make it stop!" _Sora's voice echoed in Amaterasu's mind.

Her yellow orbs looked back at the dark colored creature. Her jaw wouldn't move, and her inner sub-consciousness was yelling at her for not responding so quickly. Sora tried to move forward but he couldn't find the strength to move his legs towards his companion. He saw a toothy grin once more from his companion and she tried to open her mouth. Sora's blue eyes noticed, from where he was standing, that white teeth became visible contrasting the dark skin of his friend. Finally her mouth formed several commanding words.

The terrified figure could only focus on the approaching Neoshadow, it seemed to be coming closer and closer with its menacing claws aimed at her heart.

"Stop. That's enough!" the voice growled with authority.

The Neoshadow felt all of its muscles freeze and he looked around in terror. Something had ceased his attack. Its yellow eyes looked back at the terrified figure. Its claws were so close to the fragile heart, why did it stop all of a sudden? The antennas from the overgrown Shadow Heartless twitched picking up vibrations from the area around him. He heard the breathing of his female master; she was getting ready to speak once more.

"Withdraw." Amaterasu commanded in a more human sounding tone. The dark colored creature, with noticeable yellow eyes, slowly backed away hissing in disappointment.

Today it failed at pleasing its master. But how? The Heartless only did as it was told but something pulled him back. The Heartless felt its antennas twitch sensing another presence it failed to notice. There he saw Sora in all his glory; the light enveloped his heart, and the Heartless disliked his heart very much but it could not touch him so long as its master and he were related to the called 'Sora'.

The wielder of Crabclaw stumbled forward and pulled down their hood. The shore hugged against the ankles of the exhausted Keyblade wielder. She let out a cry in surprise as she noticed a clawed hand on her arm. Black sharp claws gripping tighter and tighter against the leather fabric of her coat. Green eyes looked up and saw the wielder of darkness with a mischievous smile. Amaterasu pulled back and looked behind her noticing that Sora hadn't moved from where he positioned himself.

"I got another Keyblade." He said showing off the Three Wishes motif and Amaterasu smiled. "That's two down now…" he said pulling out the other keychain called Fatal Crest.

_The brown haired teen picked up the fallen keychain from the deceased figure. "It's Fatal Crest…" Sora said seeming a bit cheerful. "Man getting these key chains back is a hassle, at this rate I'm not going to have all my stuff back…" _

A memory was all it took for Amaterasu to lose her grip on one Heartless. Sora ran forward with Three Wishes in his grasp instead of Kingdom Key, but he knew that he wouldn't reach her in time. The dark skinned girl, Amaterasu, turned around quickly and ran with the speed of her form but that wasn't enough.

The Neoshadow purred happily as it watched the other female figure fall to the ground. The water, moving strands of hair back and forth, and pushing against the fabric as the tide pulled in and out. The moon outlined the stains of blood and the lifeless eyes of the wielder of Crabclaw. The Keyblade fell against the sand; the tide animated the keychain moving it against the current. Amaterasu broke her form and the darkness began to peel away, slowly falling down revealing her brown colored flesh. The Heartless turned its head with a faint glowing heart in its hand and it chirped happily showing the present to its master.

The young wielder of darkness looked away in disgust, but the Heartless assumed its master did not get a better look so it pressed the heart against its wielders chest. It was offering the heart to her. She refused and so the Heartless did what it was created to do. It consumed the heart from the Keyblade wielders and created a new addition to the team of Heartless as if nothing happened. The Neoshadow pressed its head against Amaterasu's stomach purring in content. Her gloved hand moved with a will of its own and patted the Heartless on the head.

"You… You bitch!" the male wielder yelled pushing Sora to the side violently. He stepped back noticing the other Heartless surround him in a heartbeat. They didn't take kindly to such brute actions, especially to those its master considered 'special'. "You… You killed her!" he cried out.

His hood had fallen down and both of the wielders of light and darkness looked at the figure. He had bright blue eyes and dark blue hair. He looked a bit older than Sora putting him to be around 18 or so. The figure growled and walked forward but the Heartless quickly cut off his path again.

"I didn't _kill_ her…" Amaterasu said softly. The Heartless clung to its master like a frighten child, and Amaterasu just took pity on it. "And I'm not a _bitch_." She hissed out barring her teeth towards the figure.

The figure directed his attention to the wielder of Kingdom Key, Sora. He grabbed Sora roughly by the collar of the Organization coat and hoisted him into the air. Sora couldn't breathe and he tried desperately to pry free.

"You… You, Keybearer of light. You're supposed to protect people from this sort of thing. How dare you side with someone like _her_." His blue eyes looked back at Amaterasu as it picked up the Heartless.

"She… she's my sister you idiot! It's not her fault. Heartless are have no _true_ master." He managed to bite his captor's hand, and Sora was dropped on his behind. The other Heartless scrambled towards Sora, and they examined the figure of the dark blue haired figure. One Heartless managed to pick up the crab keychain and handed it to Sora with a serious look in its beady yellow eyes.

The dark haired figure felt so many emotions stir within him, but all he could express was rage. He took off a silver ring from his left hand discarded it carelessly towards the shore. Amaterasu looked away with the Heartless still at her side. _"It's an engagement ring, Sora."_ He heard her voice loud and clear from the link in his heart.

"We… we were going to married soon…" the figure said curling a fist. "But… I guess we were stupid for rushing it. Anyway listen, you two _kids_. If you're going to go now's a good time to do it. Judging by the way you're dressed I can only assume you'll be going to Organization XIII." He fidgeted with something in his pocket and something that was on top of the sand. "Keep this as a constant reminder of the happiness you took out of two people… Especially _you_." His blue eyes looked at Amaterasu. "You're lucky she didn't wear it today."

Amaterasu was ready to strike the man down but even her Heartless cut her off. Sora didn't know how to react, one moment the figures were fighting with him and the next it was all over. They seemed like the bad guys now if he really thought about it. Sora felt two silver circular objects fall into his open palm. There were two rings both in a very fine sheen of silver.

"Now leave…." The dark blue haired figure said. Cursing Amaterasu out under his breathe. "I pray to God that your loved one forget about you completely." He flinched feel a Keyblade press into his neck.

"Say. It. _Again_." Her breathing was cut short as one Heartless hissed. "Say _it_." Sora pulled his sibling back before anymore damage was done. Sora's blue eyes glared at the man that sat on the sand.

"There's nothing we can do now Ammi. We'd just better do as he says. Alright?" he pulled his sister away thrusting one silver ring into her coat pocket.

In the distance the Memory Witch noticed a figure lying on the sand thinking to something of a happier tune, but tears were streaming down his eyes. The silver haired Memory Witch was ahead of Terra and the replica. She watched the dark blue haired figure, and looked at the shore; there was feminine fallen figure right by the crossing of the tide.

"I can make you forget…" she offered softly.

"Just shatter my heart…"

Sora and Amaterasu, with their hoods up once more, looked at the rings with curiosity and they felt a bit sentimental. The two wielders most have been that much _in_ love to do something like that. A figure appeared breaking their reflection on the two silver bands.

"There you two are. Come on little dudes we've got company back at the castle." The female figure said pushing Sora and Amaterasu in the dark portal.

**The Castle that Never Was **

"We are told we can take two of these Keyblade wielders." The Domz priest said scouting out the several wielders that were present. Each member had their hood up so as not to be seen yet until the Domz priest had made his decision. The green eyes of the tall figure noticed two new coming figures that stumbled in the back of the line. '_Perfect_,' the Domz priest thought and it quickly moved towards the crowd of wielders. "I shall take these two, Xian, the _Lunar Diviner_." The Domz Priest had instructed those two not to remove their hoods.

Number VII noticed the silver ring on their finger and she smiled slightly. '_These two aren't that strong, we can get rid of those simpletons in heartbeat if they go with the Domz Empire._' She thought and nodded.

"You two step forward." Number VII instructed. Both of them looked at one another in confusion but they did as they were told.

In the distance Number II was watching with a careful eye. '_But these are the new recruits… What is she trying to do?_' Xumyi thought shaking her head. The new recruits walked forward and like a small ripple effect the other members began to leave. The Domz priest examined them looking past their hooded faces and studied the energy levels of both of the figures. The two figures gulped slightly, the figure recognized them immediately from a certain event before this. Xian, Number VII, watched as the Domz Priest lifted his head up and looked back at Xian in the distance. He had chosen these two members for his personal business.

"We do expect these two back." the _Lunar Diviner_ said bowing slightly at the Domz Priest. She gave a small smile to the two individuals and it made them shudder slightly for some reason. Xumyi knew it was her turn to escort them back and she walked forward away from her 'hiding' place. Xian looked back at the dark haired grey streaked Xumyi and nodded slightly.

"I'll take it from here, Xian." Xumyi said softly and escorted the Domz Priest and the two individuals through a white door. Both of the hooded figures looked back at one another and laughed nervously as the one known as the _Freeshooter_ guided them through the Castle that Never Was, and soon they came down to the mouth of The Brink of Despair. This here was the World that Never Was. Xumyi walked down the strange colored pathway and the figures along with the Domz Priest followed behind.

It was raining in the City that Never Was. The female figure looked up as thunder roared through the area. _"Sora… We're screwed."_ Her voice echoed through his mind and he looked away for a moment.

Sora, in 'wolf's clothing' smiled slightly:

_"You're right… I guess we're going to have to just blend in for right now."_ he looked around hearing the faint call of rain, the _pitter-patter_ of the falling water as it hit the ground and buildings. The sky was dark with heavy rain clouds and lightning accompanied thunder once every-so-often.

"All right then you two this is as far as I take you, and the Domz Priest."

Xumyi's voice cut through the mental link that the two siblings had created. Both of them looked up at the older woman and then back to the tall shrouded figure. They nodded and watched as Number II walked away in the rain. She was humming something as the rain fell, and watched her disappear through one of the alleyways.

"What are your names?" the Domz Priest asked looking down at the two hooded figures.

"Well, my name is… um…" Amaterasu began to pace herself hoping to stick to a name that sounded simple and easy to remember. "My name is Buia…" she said softly.

Sora began to panic, she could feel her companions frantic eyes burning a hole in her hood.

"And this is my brother, Sindihan." She said smiling for a moment.

**Destiny** **Islands**

Riku looked at the letter that rested on his kitchen table. The King had sent them three letters in the past month asking if they knew the whereabouts of Sora and Amaterasu. Again Riku responded with the same answer. He didn't know nor did Kairi, and there was no doubt in his mind that Aqua and Ventus knew anything remotely about them, other than the fact of some things the two teens hand mention to the two strange Keyblade wielders. Turquoise eyes scanned the kitchen floor and found a familiar creature sitting at the edge of the table.

"I can't, Vieh. You'll get sick again." His mother said looking down from her newspaper. "Besides I don't think you want to get sick at a time like this. With those Heartless around and Riku…"

"Don't worry…" Riku reassured his mother softly. "I'm not leaving anytime soon."

"Don't go jinxing it, okay?" she just wanted him to be careful After all that was a role that a mother played.

In the distance Ventus was sitting down on light pink colored porch. He looked in back of him hearing the screen door open, and there was a blue haired girl. She sat by him and gave him a pleasant smile. The two of them stayed silent for a moment when something caught Ven's attention.

"Yesterday… you and I both saw that barrier break…" he said softly. His blue eyes were fixed on a single leaf from a mature flower that was in front of the porch. Aqua looked at Ven's blonde hair as the ocean breeze swayed it to the side gently. She let a sigh escape her lips and tried to smile, tying to tell herself that things would be fine.

"The worlds are in trouble." Aqua said softly and looked at the petal of a blue flower. "But the King hasn't been able to find Amaterasu or Sora. Not to mention that Ames hasn't contacted him in a while now." she said reiterating what they already knew.

"Yeah… but she'd have a good reason not to, am I right?" he asked looking back at Aqua.

Inside the home Kairi was eavesdropping, she knew wasn't supposed to, but somehow she knew that it had something to do with Sora:

"Riku's already told me, about the letters." Ven's voice didn't flatter. He was telling the truth is seemed.

"Yeah… I had a feeling something like this was bound to happen." Aqua said sighing in defeat. "You know I really thought our vacation would last a bit longer."

"It's been a couple of months now, what more could you want?"

"A year… or five…" she chuckled.

Kairi pressed her back against the wall of the door and looked down. She knew that someday they would have to leave, but it was because Sora and Amaterasu seemed to be in danger. She didn't really want to believe that they were in danger, but signs proved otherwise up to this point. She didn't mention the dreams of two figures calling themselves Light and Dark, the young Princess of Heart didn't feel that it was necessary for her to do so.

"We should tell them tomorrow…" Ventus said. Kairi heard the floor creak underneath the over zealous wielder. Aqua shushed him and told him to sit down. Kairi gasped, had she been found out?

"I know you're in there." Aqua said standing up. The floor boards creaked as both Aqua and Kairi met face to face. The young Princess of Heart looked down for a moment at her feet and shuffled them a bit trying hard not to move back. "So then you heard." Aqua said softly.

"…I'm sorry." She said softly. "I didn't mean to…" Kairi paused for a moment feeling something stirring in her heart. Are they really in danger?" she asked.

Ventus stood up and looked back at Kairi. Blue eyes met with worried eyes of the same hue. He didn't really know how to put it to her, but it was a simple yes. As long as Ames kept their whereabouts a secret the best thing to assume is that they were in fact still in danger. He pushed back his blonde hair and teased it up a bit just for the sake of doing so. He explained to her that they would leave soon in a couple of days. That meant preparing only the essentials like snacks, money, extra clothing, and things like that.

"I'll tell Riku to write a letter to the king." Aqua said softly.

**With the Domz Priest **

Sora looked up at the familiar ship and noticed the strange symbols that were craved into its material. It didn't look like anything he had seen in text books; all he knew was that they were hieroglyphics of some sort. Amaterasu followed behind slowly watching the rain hit the ship slightly. There was a strange shield about one inch thick that covered the ship in a transparent membrane. The Domz Priest had already entered the ship and the whole crew was waiting on the two individuals. The two siblings looked back at the rings on their fingers. To Amaterasu the man's words echoed through her head and she tried to block the voice out by shaking her head.

Sora told her to try and not think about it. He explained to her that the individual had been upset; any normal person would've been given the event at hand. He grasped her left hand and pulled her forward into the entrance of the Domz ship. The two stepped through the opened doorway and once they were one foot away from the entrance the doorway closed quickly. There was a strange green glow with transparent blockades, and strange but squishy corners. The walls were made out of black alien material, and the doorways around them required beams of light to open them.

Amaterasu looked up at one of the mirrors that reflected off some light from a strange stone. Sora took the chance to move the strange metallic column, and rotated the mirror to another green tinted mirror above the archway of a locked doorway. The two siblings watched the green light pass through and open two doorways successfully.

"Couldn't I just have used the Keyblade?" Sora asked pulling out Kingdom Key.

Amaterasu didn't say anything and pushed Sora through the doorways. The two of them walked further and further into the ship. They could hear chanting echoing through the halls of the ship. The chants were getting louder with each step. It was there they came upon several members that looked like the Domz Priest. One of them seemed taller than the rest. The tallest figure walked forward, their feet picking up dust from the strange ground. The other figures stepped away as the creature advanced toward them.

The figure had two very long arms and big hands. It moved its hands in a strange circular motion and before long the two humans felt their bodies being lifted into the air. They looked at the figure before them, with green eerie glowing eyes. It didn't open its mouth to speak.

"One of my followers saw you in the Realm of Darkness, and another in the Castle that Never Was. I would say that you are indeed following us, but for right now I do not care. I wish to use your help against someone who we consider a threat. You have no choice but to follow us to a placed called Hyllian." He growled placing the two Keyblade bearers. "Strange that they let you go with us so willingly. They know not the power you two hold."

"And they never will…" Sora and Amaterasu whispered amongst themselves.

**A/N: **You know what to do **_one_** review, please!

_Buia_ means dark in Italian, I believe. _Sindihan_ means ignite, which is the same as the verb to light


	5. V

**A/N:** Hey everyone how have you been? Well sorry for the long wait but school came first, ya now? Anyway here you go chapter FIVE!!! Yay! This is set in the world of Hyllis, within the world of the videogame Beyond Good and Evil.  
**Xejicka:** Thanks for the revie buddy. Yeah I said Hyllis, because we're in the world of Beyond Good and Evil now, don't worry you'll get the whole story before even playing the game. I hope you like this one!  
**To all my readers and reviewers, thank you so much for the encouragement you give me! It keeps me going!**  
**  
Chapter 5: Hyllis plagiarius of pacis molior** (Hyllis, planet of peaceful construction)

Sora looked at the strange council of creatures. '_So then, these are the Priest's followers then. I guess that makes sense, why they'd look like the taller looking creature._' He thought as he felt their strange eyes staring Amaterasu and him down. They were reading their energy levels. The Domz still found it strange that the Organization XIII gave them up so willingly to them.

"Xian… from what I could tell." It was the tall figure from before. "She gave them with no feeling whatsoever. I do not understand why she considers them weak. Her heart held no remorse for sending them out. I suppose their Superior let these two go for such a job."

Amaterasu looked back at the speaking figure, and noticed that there was a crowd of more human looking creatures in the area. This was a meeting then, and Sora and Amaterasu were the object of their discussions. The higher priest came into view now and stood up towering over the others.

"It does not matter now. We will use them to help us, surely the job will be done faster with these two who embrace the very elements that created the worlds." The Domz Priest said. The Domz Priest seemed to be glad for some reason and his followers noted the tone of his voice as the time went on during the meeting.

The meeting was adjourned and the two Keyblade bearers were off to do as they pleased. The Domz Armada welcomed the two as their own kind, more for the fact of the well respected elements that were within the hearts of the two Keyblade wielders. There were small colonies of the Domz within deeper levels of the ship. They learned that the main place, which was kept top secret, was in another ship somewhere ahead of this ship. Their guide was a strange sarcophagus looking creature by the name of 'Sys'.

"This will be your home until the mission is done." Sys said in that strange raspy voice that the Domz carried. "Until then, Sindihan and Buia, I will be your guide for any question you may have regarding the Domz civilization." He said, and bowed slightly.

Sora's alias was the name 'Sindihan' a name Amaterasu said when they were questioned for their name. Amaterasu's alias was the name 'Buia'. Sora had asked what their names had meant, and she replied that they were names for 'dark' and the verb 'to light'. Sys left the two humans and hovered away into another corridor some several meters away.

"Call me should you need my assistance." Sys said looking back at the two and then went on his way. Amaterasu and Sora couldn't help but comment on how 'nice' the Domz were to them as they stayed on their fleet.

Time passed as they stayed in the Domz Armada. It had been roughly a week since then, and they had changed in appearance now to try and fit in with the Domz lifestyle. Amaterasu had to cut her hair on the behalf that Sora was trying to cut it with a pair of scissors while she slept. The style still mimicked the one she had several months ago, but it was a bit shorter. Amaterasu on the other hand had to change Sora's spiky hair drastically, going so far as to comb his hair down, though in the end she just ended up pushing his hair back and letting some of the long bangs fall off to the right side of his face.

"That's not going to do…" she said frowning for a moment. "I might as well make you have Zack's hair…" she said parting his hair into the certain style she was referring to. "Of course you have more hair in the back than he does… you want me to cut it?"

"NO!"

Sora stared at the dark skinned girl as if she had just stated to devour human children. No scissor would ever touch his hair, he made that promise pretty clear to everyone, to the extreme he had once faked an illness so that his mother wouldn't cut his hair. In the end Sora mimicked the style worn by Zack Fair in his younger years.

"You know, you, Zack, and Cloud all have the same hairstyle… it's spiky…" Amaterasu said, putting the finishing touches on her young 'brother's' hair. Sora thought about the idea for a moment and wondered if somehow all three of them were related or not.

The two of them examined one another in the mirror and they seemed to be content with the design in hair. It made them seem a bit different, they looked a bit more 'dark' in a sense, but still they managed to retain that innocent look in their eyes. Today was the day that they trained with some of the members of the Domz. From what the two humans heard the Domz Armada was the best that there was. They wanted to see if it was really true, and so the Domz Priest ordered two of their top soldiers here to this small ship. Sys appeared in the door way to greet the two people known as 'Sindihan' and 'Buia'. The two bowed slightly and looked at one another.

"You ready?" Sora asked with a grin on his face. Amaterasu nodded and gave him a thumb's up.

Sys led the way for the two siblings and they walked through a strange archway filled with strange hieroglyphics and symbols of the Domz civilization. At one point Sora and Amaterasu saw a human looking creature at the end of the wall. Nothing else was etched into the stone. Perhaps this is where the civilization was right now. Before them was a crowd of the strange looking sarcophagus creatures that seemed to look like a crowd just for them. Sys directed them to the stand, and the two noticed the strange looking arena. Their opponents in the distance looked almost human, but they wore strange black clothing, with some strange looking green thing attached to the side of their neck, it seemed to mimic an overgrown leech, if it were pasty white and had one very large green eye.

There in front of the arena, in their own private section, were members of the Domz Priest's council. '_Geez… the Domz Priest is putting pressure on us…_' Sora thought rubbing the back of his head. Amaterasu laughed nervously as Sys told them to stand in the center of the _stage_. This was their _play_, and they were the _actors_.

"How about we give them a performance they'll never forget?" Amaterasu asked Sora, watching the young teen look around. He was getting stage fright already. "Hey… Sora?"

Sora looked into the distance they opponents were walking towards them. They stopped in the center of the arena, two feet away from them. They placed a closed fist on an open palm and bowed in unison, waiting for the two Keyblade wielders to do the same. Sora bowed clumsily but Amaterasu did it with some grace. The two gave friendly smiles to their opponents in black, somehow the almost human looking Domz smiled as well, but for some reason Sora could sense they didn't really mean it.

"Now…" the Domz Priest stood up mighty and tall, with ceremonial robes of green, black, and purple. "Let the fight begin!" he raised his hands, and a strange green flame sprouted up from the large looking candle. To Sora it reminded him of the ones in Olympus Coliseum only that this one was larger, and it gave the whole room a strange eerie green glow. He looked back at Amaterasu and she shrugged in response, of course she wasn't going to have a clue as to why they did that.

The sound of feet was heard, and Sora ducked out of the way of a punch. Amaterasu looked in front of her, but she wasn't as lucky, falling on her back in a daze. She summoned the Oblivion Keyblade but it retreated back into its keychain form at will. _"We have to fight with our hands?"_ she asked Sora. He replied with a simple yes. The dark skinned wielder picked herself up before receiving another blow. This was the doing of the Domz Priest. He wanted to test out their powers, should their Keyblades in day be out of reach for them.

The sound of feet scuffling about was heard across the arena. Sora let out a war cry, and brought a leg up into the air, but the figure in black blocked it with ease. Truth be told they were out of shape for close quarter combat. '_Use your light…_' a male voice said within the brunette wielder's head. Sora paced himself, and breathed, in bring his hands up to fight once more. One of the pasty white figures brought their fist forward, and Sora ducked down, this feeling he had, it made things move so slow in his eyes.

Amaterasu stepped to the side, and looked at the fist slowly pull back. Her eyes were reading their movements with ease. For a moment she looked back and noticed a strange aura around her opponent, it was moving around with curves, as if directing her to where the body would move next. '_Huh, you're using my element and taking my name, and yet you can't read the darkness in their hearts… Jeez Ammi, come on, fight!_' a female voice said in the back of her mind. A kick was brought up, and Amaterasu blocked it with her forearm. The opponent noticed a strange visible black aura around the girl's hands.

Sora and Amaterasu were back to back now, each with their representative elements giving off an unearthly glow on their hands. Sora bent forward a bit and Amaterasu didn't miss a step, she arched her back and now the two of them faced each other. They ducked moving out of the others way, and side sweep kick. Their opponents jumped back in the nick of time, and once again the two wielders moved forward bringing their fist up. The Domz Priest watched with scrutiny noticing how the auras of light and darkness encompassed the hands of the wielder. He was glad that his disciple hand picked out those two.

Amaterasu jumped back, and caught herself on her hands, a hand stand. The Domz opponent brought his leg over and tried to knock her off balance, but the aura surrounding her hands created a shield of some sort. Amaterasu was unaware of this and placed herself back in her upright position. The opponent was pushed back, and then commenced with another punch. Amaterasu brought her palm up at the right time and blocked it with ease, surprisingly it didn't hurt as much.

Sora moved to the side and grasped the figures wrist with ease. The energy from his hand was burning the skin on the opponent as the Domz fighter struggled to break free. Sora quickly let go and jumped back, something was thrown their way. The opponents knocked into each other and the two wielders looked at one another with wide grins. Something caught Sora off guard, strange looking tentacles moved forward from the hand of one of the fighters and grasped Sora's wrist. Amaterasu tried to break the grip on the tentacle but it was strong. Sora tried to struggle a bit but something in the back of his head told him to wait. The Domz Priest watched in amazement as the two wielders paced themselves. The opponents of the two element wielders looked at the two human teenagers trying to figure out what their next moves would be. Sora placed his free hand on the tentacle.

"Light!" he yelled out, and a bright light shined from Sora's open palm. The Domz that had him in his grip retreated, and Amaterasu took the chance to pin down the opponent with ease, her aura manifested it self into a thin dark misty blade. Sora ran forward and jumped into the air, curling his fist back. The remaining opponent jumped back and as Sora touched the ground he thrusted his fist forward. An aura of light moved quickly creating a shockwave.

Amaterasu on the other hand brought both of her fists down onto the ground sending a shockwave of darkness through the area. It raised some slabs of the arena and Sora's shockwave created a small crater around his feet. The crowd watched with some awe, their fighting style was a bit sloppy, but that was to be expected from someone who mainly fought with swords.

Sora did a back flip and caught himself, the earth around him was shaking with the shockwaves each one of their punches sent out. He mentally told his 'sibling' to stop and look around. They had picked up dust in the arena and they were sitting ducks for a while. The two Domz fighters could sense their presence in the dusty area, it was perfect. Amaterasu closed her eyes and breathed in, she bought her hands outward and then moved them in a semi circle. Her eyes opened, she could faintly see some silhouettes in the distance.

"There!" Amaterasu said quickly pointing in the distance. The opponents stopped moving and the dark skinned wielder felt pressure around her. She noticed the distinct yellow beady eyes, Sora had changed into his Heartless form. Within second of pinpointing the opponents Sora had already charged straight ahead using his Heartless instincts.

The dark skinned wielder followed, feeling the claws grow, and her fangs became apparent. The two Heartless looking wielders ran forward with ferocious speed and tossed their opponents into the air. The two leapt through the cloud of dust creating an opening that mesmerized the Domz for a moment. Amaterasu brought a clawed fist down sending the opponent in her view down with no mercy. Sora summoned a Dark Firaga and it hit the chest of the Domz opponent in his view. The two Domz wielders fell to the earth with rapid speed, and there was a small aftershock from the attack.

Sys came forward and hurried over to the fallen opponents, but it was too late. The darkness around Amaterasu's heart took over, and before long the two fallen Domz fighters were a bloody mess, their hearts ripped out from their chest. Sys looked up at the Domz Priest. '_They are the real deal all right… You were right my liege. Though the wielder of light was able to hold back the darkness in his heart…_' he thought watching Sora revert back to his human form. The brunette tried desperately to hold Amaterasu back, her jaws snapped violently, but once time passed she came back to reality.

"…" Amaterasu blinked and noticed that Sora had her pinned. "So…ra… Sora?" she couldn't help but look at his eyes. They seemed relaxed for some reason now, and it calmed her down a bit.

Sys knew perfectly well what had happened. It may have been true, the Domz had no need for Heartless, but the darkness within them was enough to turn any dark users into a berserker of some sort. Amaterasu was no exception to that rule. The Domz Priest knew at the moment she turned into her other form the darkness within her would be easy to control with his power; her heart was vulnerable when it opened up. Sora on the other hand was made of both, light and darkness, but light was more prevalent in his heart, the Domz couldn't control such a bright force.

"We won…" Sora said trying to smile. Amaterasu sat up and looked at the mess on the floor. She closed her eyes and looked away. The two of them felt something around them and noticed that the Domz opponents looked alive and well.

"Oh yeah…" Sys said within earshot of the two teenagers. "The Domz Priest uses dummies for this type of training, no real live Domz… which is a good thing seeing as how Amaterasu ripped out their _heart_…"

**Destiny** **Islands**

"I thought we were leaving…" Ventus started to whine seeing as Aqua was sunbathing for a while. "Hey come on Aqua, say something!" he said starting to get a bit ticked off as his friend's behavior. "We've been here for a week already!"

"Yeah well it's up to them, they pick when we can leave." Aqua said moaning for a moment in annoyance. It was bad enough that Ventus was with her while she was sunbathing but to have him talk nonstop, there was only so much a girl like her could handle.

Ventus looked into the distance for a while; he knew why this place seemed so familiar now. He smiled and closed his eyes losing himself in a wonderful memory it was during his first adventure as a Keyblade wielder, he remembered coming here when the sun was setting, everything the downcast sun touched turned to different hues of pink, and gold, with faint traces of light purple hitting the clouds.

In the distance Riku was leaning against the railing from his balcony, it seemed like forever since he had been there. The last time, he remembered being up here was when the door of Destiny Islands had opened. He looked in back of hi noticing that he left the slide door open, he watched Vieh slip out of the room and the silver hound nuzzled against his master's leg. '_I wonder how Amaterasu is doing…_' he thought to himself. In his pocket he had that precious blue mp3 player. He remembered making a promise to keep it safe. He had been ready to leave the islands for about a week now, he was just waiting on Kairi's end. She didn't want to leave.

_"What if they come back home and we're not there?" she asked rubbing her eyes for a bit. She had been crying for a bit. "How are those two going to feel?" she asked him. _

_"And what if they're not? In case you don't remember not even King Mickey knows where those two are." Riku said crossing his arms over his chest in a bit of annoyance. "Listen, Kairi, we have a better chance finding them in other worlds versus staying here, you know that." He said in soft tone, he didn't want to make her cry. _

_The two Keyblade wielders knew this to be true, but still a piece of Kairi's heart told her to stay, it was just that she didn't want to get leave her family or her other friends behind, but still this was their duty as Keyblade wielders, they were to protect the worlds from darkness and help spread light._

Riku sighed and noticed the gummi ship that was in the distance by the pier of the island that they all use to play on as children. It was a bright red, with yellow colored wings, it could hold up to four people, roughly.

**The ****Elusion-Ilusion** **Castle**

A figure dressed in black pants and a white shirt stepped out of the room and pushed open the doors of the balcony. Beside him stood a woman with blonde hair and blue eyes, she wore a noticeable crimson scarf, that she kept close to her heart. The dark blue haired figure looked into the distance and placed a soft hand on the female's shoulder.

"They're out there somewhere…" he said softly looking back at his good advisor.

"You dragged me out here to say just that?" she asked staring at him oddly. "You tell me that everyday why should today be any different?"

"Moment killer…" the man said mumbling under his breath. "Lightning…" he paused for a moment and remembered something else. "I mean… Procella, the **_Dark Princess_,** she gave you that scarf, didn't she?" he asked looking at the figure known as Procella. She nodded and tugged at the scarf for a moment.

"I think Sora and she are doing fine, Nacht…" Procella said smiling for a moment. "Or should I sill call you Versus?" she asked looking at him seriously for a moment. He shrugged; he told her he didn't care so long as she didn't say Nacht in public. Procella sighed and looked back out at the capital; fall was clearly showing on the leaves of the trees from the royal garden.

**By the Hyllis gravitational pull **

Ventus and the others wasted no time at all with the preparations to leave the small chain of islands. Ven and Aqua had forgotten how the worlds looked from space, they look like small marbles that kids use to play with. Different worlds scattered about like if a deity had been playing with marbles and just left them on the plane of space. Riku suggested a place called Hyllis, since there had been a broadcast not that long ago on it. Kairi looked at the view in awe; she had forgotten this feeling of joy she felt whenever she flew in a gummi ship.

Ventus looked at the small screen to his left and noticed something coming into view. The little abbreviation HTV appeared on the screen. There a man with a short goatee and dark sunglasses appeared. A name was spelled out underneath him on the left corner, 'Fehn Digler' and on the right 'HTV News' with its own little fanfare coming into hearing ranging:

"The war has arrived at the Gates of Hyllis. This peaceful mining planet in System Four is no completely encircled by the Domz Armada. General Kek, Supreme Commander of the Alpha Forces would like to take this opportunity to address a final message to the public…"

It was there that the Supreme Commander's voice was heard:

"Loyal Hyllians, the impending battle will be a difficult one but thanks to the Alpha Sections…" Ventus turned if off and scoffed, to him the commander sounded like he was just all talk, and right away didn't like him. Aqua on the other hand couldn't help but look at the world known as Hyllis, it looked so peaceful, but that meant that she just couldn't judge a planet by how it looked. Kairi couldn't help but worry about the people on the planet, the fact that the new reporter said that there was a war made he worry even more. She looked back at Riku, but he didn't say anything.

"Let's just land the ship…" Riku said softly looking back at Vieh for a second, he had fallen asleep in his master's seat. Ventus nodded and slowly brought the gummi ship into the world's gravitational pull. The gummi ship began to move on its own, and Aqua had to help Ven pull on the steering wheel to avoiding going into a nosedive.

"A little help!" Aqua said straining under the pressure of the steering device.

**Hyllis **

Unknown to this peaceful mining planet, something was falling down from the heavens giving off a strange green glow.

Te planet seemed to be unaware; everything seemed like a normal day. A young woman and a goat humanoid child were meditating as the sun was setting. The two sat side by side immersed in deep breathing. Sea gulls flew past the dusk marked sky and the tree towering over the two people swayed its leaves with the calm breeze. The two individuals were sitting by the edge of a cliff not far from their home. It was there that the young woman opened her eyes. Green eyes stared up at the sky.

"Hey look!" Kairi pointed out to a strange falling piece of space debris in the distance, it was going head to head with their gummi ship. "Ven turn this ship around!"

"No can do, Princess! But I'm not going to let this ship crash!" he said pulling up at the last second. Riku looked at the approaching meteor, and he and Aqua looked at one another, the two of them nodded and brought out their Keyblades with great haste.

"Reflectgun!" the two wielders cried out. Kairi looked outside the window and noticed a barrier form quickly over the ship. Ventus prayed silently hoping that somehow the barrier could stand up to the meteor.

The green eyed female looked up at the sky. Something caught her attention. There in the sky something had cracked, sending a green tinged shockwave through the sky. Then, a strange vortex appeared; the sound of thunder was heard.

"They're coming… Quick Fen, jump up!" the young female adult said. The small goat humanoid jumped up on the woman's back, clinging tightly on the female's green short cut jacket. She ran back to the base of her home. Purple sneakers began to traverse the green grass at a fast past. Faded blue jeans were folding to meet the wearer's body with each sprint. Her jet black hair swayed slightly against her green headband, the right side of her bangs got into her face at one point but she didn't care. '_Hurry, Jade!_' the young humanoid goat thought holding on for dear life. Before long the white colored lighthouse came into view.

"Quick, go tell Pey'j!" Jade said with some difficulty as Fen got off of her back. Jade watched him for a second as he entered the lighthouse and then stopped at the foot of the doorway. Jade pressed the button for the shield that was located right by the front part of the lighthouse:

"I'll take care of the shield…" she said to herself as the energy gauge from the power started to go up. She looked up watching the top of the roof, the round roof of the lighthouse began to glow, and it was powering up to create the barrier. "Go. Go!" she muttered pleading with all her might.

Up in the sky all of the teens in the gummi looked at the meteor as it bounced off of the Reflectgun spell. Everyone but the blonde haired Keyblade wielder just glared at the pilot:

_"Are you sure the Reflect gummi's are working?" a girl with wine colored haired asked. The pilot reassured them that they had nothing to worry. Another girl with blue colored hair asked once more and again the blonde haired pilot said that they had nothing to worry about._

"It was just a simple mistake…" Ventus said rubbing the back of his head. Another meteor appeared on the screen and he grabbed the steering device thrusting the ship to the side with brute force.

Below on the surface of the lighthouse things started to go well. The red colored roof of the home was pushed up into the air by a pole of the same color. Once it was in place energy began to emit from the tip of the roof and the shield began to form, it would fade out now and then but that was only because if was getting read to charge up. Jade sighed in relief.

"Shield activated!" she smiled hearing the animated voice. Green painted lips were at ease showing the person's emotion. Jade was glad to hear that little voice as annoying as it could be at times.

Up from a gummi ship's perspective all four teens about see a strange glow of some sort encompass a home with its strange tinged glow, it looked to be a light blue and green color. They could see that the building was fairly tall. Within Kairi's heart she prayed for the shield to stay up as the meteors began to fall rapidly. She heard Aqua say something about Heartless ships crashing down as well, but when the young Princess of Heart looked out the side window she didn't see the so called 'Heartless ships' anywhere. They could all hear the roars from the falling pieces of space junk, and it even woke up Vieh, the little silver hound in the process. Riku's eyes scanned the area and noticed that most of the homes were on the water, they were all islands. '_Just like home…_' he thought feeling his heart sink even more.

Kairi and Aqua felt their lips move and the two males looked at them strangely. Their attention was focused on one home, the shield was starting to fade in and out slowly. Riku watched and Ventus looked from the window next to them. More meteors began to fall around their area, sometimes the gust enough, was more than enough to push their little gummi ship a bit. Vieh the silver furred beast suggested that they move the ship somewhere. Ventus asked why, but even the other three knew the answer to that question. Vieh told Ventus, the blonde Keyblade wielder, to just trust in animal instinct.

Jade watched the sky a bit noticing more meteors come down, some hitting the ocean and some hitting the area by her home. Other rocks traversed the sky with streaks of green, and some of the rocks that looked darker left a trail of smoke. '_At least the shield is holding up for now…_' she thought sighing in relief. She heard the sound of something fizz and looked up. The shield began to crackle a bit, but it was nothing serious. Lightning accompanied the meteor shower adding more to this ominous feeling that plagued her heart. Again the shield flickered though now it seemed it was doing this for good. One last time it flickered, and soon the shield broke apart.

'_No, no, no!_' she thought watching the power gauge go from green to red in a heartbeat. She banged the machine once more but nothing happened, and then again the little annoying voice was heard:

"Shield disabled…" the voice said. "Your Optima account is…" the female voice of the automated teller was heard. "Three hundred and fifty units short…" a male voice said. Jade felt her mouth open in disbelief a bit upon hearing the amount they needed. "Your electrical supply has just been blocked."

Jade looked up, green eyes scanning the sky above her. The meteors were falling frequently now, and she could feel some of the aftershocks from the ones that fell meters away from her. '_This isn't good…_' she thought trying to activate the shield once more, but nothing happened, instead she heard another voice:

"Thank yo-…Thank you for shhh…" Jade stopped pressing the machines hearing the glitch in the automate tellers voice. She looked up and noticed a meteor heading straight for her direction. She rolled backwards just in the nick of time. She examined the meteor and noticed that for some strange reason it had a strange green tinted membrane around it, it looked almost like skin, not like falling rock at all. The strange rock broke upon seconds of touching the earth and scattered around the area. Jade did a back flip trying to avoid all of the rocks that shot out from the broken meteor.

In the distance she heard some noise and looked straight ahead. The children could see the white t-shirt wearing women several meters away. All the kids were there in the doorway trying to express their comments on the whole problem. Jade on the other hand feared for the worst upon hearing their words of encouragement.

"Get'em Jade, make those stupid Domz-" Fen's voice could be heard loud and clear rising over the other voices of the children around him.

"Get back inside and-" Jade was cut off and looked up feeling something around her. Another strange meteor was coming down, and fast. It placed itself between the children and the entrance of the lighthouse, sending Jade on one knee for a moment but she picked herself up quickly. The strange meteor created a crater, bringing the children down with it. Strange creatures suddenly reappeared after the children had disappeared with the meteor's crater. Jade looked at the creatures and she gasped for a moment feeling her eyes widen.

There in the middle of the creatures the children had been encased into their bodies. These creatures looked like overgrown sarcophagi. All the children cried out frantically, begging for help. She looked around and noticed another meteor had fallen as well, this one looked more metallic; with a second glance she noticed it was part of a ship. Soon dark strange creatures with yellow beady eyes appeared in suite with the humanoid sarcophagi. The children stopped moving, their forehead were beginning to glow; giving off a strange green aura, ad then the creatures began to move. Jade glared at the creature in the middle, and luckily for her there was a piece of burning debris right by her foot.

"Heartless…" Aqua said quickly as their gummi ship was hovering over one of the nearby islands. Ventus cried out in alarm and Kairi gasped, the other two focused their attention to the blonde haired teen and the red haired girl. They were pointing to the strange white colored lighthouse. There was someone fighting with a burning stick. Vieh looked up, struggling to find balance on his hind legs, and Riku pulled him up to get a better look. Ventus titled the steering device and before long they were coming towards the area. Aqua without a second thought opened the side compartment door feeling the gust whip past her.

"What are you…?! Aqua?!" Ventus cried out watching something jump out of the ship. Ventus growled as he slammed the gummi ship to a violent halt, sending everyone else in the ship forward. He zoomed in on the ground and found Aqua sliding off of an Aerogun spell. She ran forward with her Keyblade at hand ready to fight off the Heartless that surrounded the woman in front.

Jade turned around slightly noticing someone else running up the exact same area. She saw a strange blue haired girl running with something that had a keychain located at the bottom of the hand guard, it looked like a rose of some sort. The blue haired girl jumped into the air, and slammed her weapon into the shoulder of one of the strange yellow eyed creatures.

"Behind you!" the girl managed to say. Jade looked forward, and flipped backwards avoiding one of the attacks from the Domz. She ran forward and slammed the burning stick down with devastating force. It let its grip on one of the children fall, and the child picked themselves up and ran to safety. Soon others came wielding the same type of weapon the girl with blue hair had. For a moment Jade felt that she could handle this now with almost no problem. Jade moved to the right avoiding the massive claw hand of one of the Domz creatures. She ducked down, and kicked back one of the other hands that came her way. The burning stick made it's way down one of the shoulders of the Domz, and another child was set free.

Ventus pushed back one of the Domz, kicking it free from the grasp it had placed on his right arm. Kairi used a Firaga spell on several of the Heartless to just keep them at bay. Riku jumped back avoiding a spinning kick from the Air Soldier, and Vieh was right by his side, his fangs ripping through the flesh of the Heartless that approached his master. Riku looked around and noticed more children gathering by a large rock. He looked at the women fighting off the strange creatures with back flips, and faking right hitting the creatures right in the center of their strange colored abdomens. The woman was holding up all on her own. Riku focused back on his fight and bent backwards avoiding a kick to the face with ease. Vieh leapt forward bearing his fangs, and felt his fangs pierce some of the flesh of a nearby Shadow Heartless.

The last remaining Domz moved to the side avoiding the burning stick their opponent used. She moved to the side avoiding the clawed attack. It lunged forward, but the woman jumped back placing the burning item in front of her, sending the Domz to retreat a bit. It tried against and managed to hit her, sending her falling backwards. The creature felt triumphant, but it was too early to count its victory. Jade pushed herself up, bringing her feet forward, and knocked the Domz onto its back. It let out a bloodcurdling cry as Jade pressed the weapon of her choice deeper and deeper into the flesh of the Domz, and at last the last child ran out, going with Fen and the others by a nearby boulder. Kairi brought her Keyblade forward and decapitated one of the smaller Heartless.

Ventus was being pushed back by several of the Neo Shadows in the area, and he could feel his foot teetering over the edge of the cliff the Lighthouse was stationed on. He noticed something silver running down wildly through the area, and it let out a strange eerie bark. The Neo Shadows moved their antennae through the air and all of their black color head turned around, their beady eyes focused on the hound before them. Ven took the chance and used Diamond Dust to wipe out the Heartless around him. One Heartless turned around to late, and felt its arm being sliced into two pieces, and it began to slowly fade away. Ven showed no mercy calling out a powerful Thunder spell. The bolts of lightning fell heavily one the last three Heartless leaving them in a daze. The only thing that reflected off of their eyes was the strange icy particles from the Keyblade, Diamond Dust.

Rumbling Rose moved through the field with fierce speed. Aqua handled the weapon as if it were second nature, bringing the Keyblade down on one last foe. She gripped the handle rightly letting out a sharp breath of air escape her lips, and within moments the Heartless was neatly cut down in two pieces. It stared back at Aqua, almost saddened, with its beady yellow eyes, and then as it started to fall apart it began to fade away showing off the heart that had been released by the Keyblade. Aqua withdrew her weapon and looked back noticing that Riku kicked a Heartless into the air, and threw Way to Dawn in its path stabbing it right through the chest. Kairi on the other hand closed her space with a Heartless and placed a fire spell, the poor creature rolled on the floor as flames ate away at its black coated skin.

"Thanks…" someone said softly grabbing Riku and Aqua's attention. Ventus had come within earshot of the voice as well and looked up, as did the silver hound. There was the weapon with the burning stick in her hand. She looked a bit roughed up, but it didn't seem like it was anything serious. She wore a green headband, with short jet black hair with bangs at the right side. The woman wore white tank top with a green short cut jacket, blue faded jeans with markings on them, and purple colored sneakers. The women seemed exhausted but glad for the help, and at the fact that the children in the distance were safe from the both types of creatures.

She walked back and looked down at the crater that had formed right by the entrance of the lighthouse. It seemed to stretch down for miles without an end in sight. Everyone, but her, cried out in alarm upon a strange sight. Within seconds strange pale colored tentacles appeared under Jade's feet. The tentacles pressed through the earth and quickly wrapped around the woman's feet. Jade watched her body climb high into the air, and she looked down, she was hovering over the crater. She struggled to break free but each time she did more pressure was applied to her body, the tentacles wrapped around almost her whole body. Jade gasped feeling the sinking sensation in her stomach, the tentacles pulled her down into the crater, and everything seemed to be getting darker.

She had her eyes closed trying to concentrate on breaking free but she still couldn't. The feeling in the pit of her stomach ceased and she opened her eyes. It looked a brighter down the crater than it did around the middle area of it all. There she noticed a strange pasty white, and grey, looking figure staring into her eyes. It looked like an overgrown mutated dandelion with tentacles. Somehow the strange alien managed to speak as it stared at Jade with its large green reflective eye.

"Come home, _pakat_… _Shauni_…" it managed to growl as it spoke. She made eye contact with the creature and she felt her eyes grow heavy. Images swirled in her mind of places she had never seen and a strange looking figure with dark colored robes. She didn't know what they were, or why they even came to her mind. All she did know was the strain being placed on her was making her lose consciousness. Above the earth Riku and Kairi moved closer to the edge of the crater but someone told them to move back. A strange looking human rushed past them knocking both of them away from the crater.

"Jaaaade! Hang on, Jade!" the voice echoed out as the figure dropped themselves into the crater. Deep within Jade's mind she could hear someone calling out to her but it sounded rather distant. The sound started coming closer and closer. "I'm coming!" the male voice said. Jade found herself aware now and looked up. She noticed a humanoid hog wearing clothing descending the opening. '_Pey'j_,' she thought. Pey'j fell down and landed on the stem of the mutated dandelion with tentacles. The creature squealed in pain and Pey'j looked at Jade.

"Free yourself, Jade!" Pey'j instructed her. It was no use though for right now, she was trapped by a strange circular wall of tentacles. "I'll create a diversion!" the humanoid hog shouted throwing something in the woman's direction. Jade looked up and watched the item fly through the air; she caught it and grasped her weapon tightly with her hand. She had limited space which kept her from moving more than five inches without hitting the 'bars' the tentacles acted as. She concentrated all of her energy into the Daï-jo, the weapon of her choice. Pey'j watched as the weapon around the woman began to glow, and she let out a yell, the energy around her pushed her into the air and let out a strange shockwave hit the area around her. The creature was hit, and the tentacles that encased her toppled over one another, she was free.

"Go for the eye!" Pey'j yelled avoiding the strange heat beam that came out of the Domz eye. Jade found new strength within her and flipped backwards with ease. She moved forward meeting up with Pey'j and he tossed her into the air. The Daï-jo was brought down and slammed into the eye of the strange Domz like creature. Another tentacle was brought out, but the energy around the weapon pushed it back a bit. "Hit it again!" Pey'j yelled as Jade landed back on her feet. The Daï-jo slammed into the stem of the creature and it bent forward. She concentrated her energy once more into the Daï-jo and let out one last shout, the shockwave around her brought her into the air and hit the creature right in the center of the eye. It squealed in pain as Jade landed on her feet, but that was the end of that.

Pey'j walked over to her and patted her on the back, or whatever he could reach anyway, she was taller than him by more than a couple of feet. Jade smirked and looked at the Domz creature, it was just the head now, and it began twitching violently for a couple of seconds and then stopped. The huge green eye was all that was left now and it too began to disappear, the color was washing away from the orb. Before long in front of them a pearl was set right before their eyes. There was a noise heard up above, and Pey'j noticed several kids coming down in the same fashion he had done. A strange whirlwind materialized underneath the teens and caught them, Pey'j hand been lucky he landed on the stem of that Domz creature.

"Hey, Segundo, scan this for me, will you?" Jade asked tapping a little screen on her side. There was a strange looking device that hung by her hip. Pey'j was too engrossed talking to the newcomers to take notice in the small trivial thing that Jade was going to do. '_We can get the hovercraft fixed with this…_' she thought stretching for a moment.

"Okay, _Yade_. Una pearl deAramis. Bueno, _Yade_. But be careful…" the voice had a heavy Spanish accent, and it sounded male. "I did a little check-up on you after you fought and I noticed something get inside your psycho-karma." Segundo said as he finished scanning the pearl. The pearl disappeared from the ground, it became pieces of data and went into the little device that hung by Jade's hip. They all looked up and noticed that a strange beam of light came down.

"Alpha Section Patrol 21, all clear. You may go up without fear." The man in the black suit said. He had a red colored visor and black helmets, with strange breathing tubes on both sides of his face, with a very strange breathing tank on his backs. Jade looked back at the Alpha Section soldier as he stepped out of the beam of light and then looked back at Pey'j and the teens. She nodded and they all proceeded to go inside the beam of light. She looked back at the teens as they talked amongst themselves; she heard the word 'Heartless' around her a few times.

"What are your names?" she asked looking at all the teens. The blonde one smirked as he placed his hands behind his head as he presented himself to be 'Ventus'. A teen with blue eyes and slightly lengthy red hair smiled and presented herself as 'Kairi'. Another teenage girl with blue hair and matching eyes presented herself as 'Aqua'. The last male teenager with silver hair and turquoise eyes presented himself as 'Riku'. She failed to notice that there was a hound by the boy's foot and she bent down slightly, patting the silver colored hound on its head. "So… Your name is Vieh?" she asked as the hound finished speaking. "My name is Jade." She said smiling back at all of them, there was no doubt in her mind Pey'j had already introduced himself.

They all watched the beam of light disappear as they appeared on the surface. They all turned their attention to the black passenger airship that was stationed several feet away from them. There were more people from the Alpha Section, and some strange man with a goatee and dark sunglasses. '_It's that guy from the broadcast…_' Kairi thought thinking back to what had been displayed within the gummi ship. Vieh growled slightly looking at the men dressed in black, he didn't like them at all, he just went with animal instinct. Pey'j on the other hand didn't seem all that happy to see the figures dressed in black, he mad several grunts in protest to each Alpha Section soldier that passed by. Ventus and the others looked at the ship with some curiosity, it had three legs holding it up, and it looked like a strange cone.

"Here on Hyllis was has once again reared its ugly head, striking the civilian population. Luckily our elite forces have once again arrived in the nick of time. I'm coming to you live from the southern Light House Shelter…" a camera caught all of their attention, and Ventus felt his eyes widen. '_I'm gonna be on TV!_' he thought happily. "Here is where some of the children, whose parents have been captured by the Domz Armada, have been taken in by two devoted and courageous Hyllians." The camera directed itself to where the children were standing, talking amongst themselves.

Jade looked up at the camera and laughed nervously Pey'j reacted differently, looking away from the camera. Ventus was in the background waving his hands like crazy, but something smacked him on the side of his head. A silver haired teen appeared in frame on the right side, and a red haired girl was poking the fallen figure. The camera man tried hard not to laugh as a blue haired teen was chewing out the fallen blonde haired guy.

"Miss, a word for our listeners…" the man by the name of Fehn Digler asked, raising his microphone color to Jade's green colored lips. She looked at the microphone and then back to the camera.

"Uhh…" she didn't know what to say at all. She was about to form her first word when another voice cut her off:

"Yeah, yeah, well you guys _are not_ what I call 'as fast as a speeding bullet'. Keep doing nothing and next time there'll be nothing to save." Pey'j said cutting Jade off in mid-sentence.

"Cut!" Mr. Digler said loudly and the camera stopped filming just as the blue haired teen, in the background, was about to kick the blonde haired teen right in the face. "Hey pop, stay zen. Don't get your snout bent out of shape." He said looking at Pey'j then back at some of the people around him. A blonde haired by was crying out mercy and another person was laughing. "Alright boys that's a wrap. Pack it up!" the man with the goatee and sunglasses said.

Everyone watched as the ships that had embedded their standing posts into the ground suddenly began to fold back into their little placeholders. The engines from the Alpha Sections ships began to hum, and it began to get hot from the heat the flying object began to produce. The Keyblade wielders, and their little dog too, watched as the black ships took to the skies, as gust distorted their hair and made little tiny object go into their eyes. Vieh sneezed and ducked his head down, and pulled his ears back. Everyone else shook their heads and tried fixing their hair from the takeoff result. Jade looked back at the others and smiled giving them a thumbs-up, as did Riku and the others. Aqua picked up Ventus roughly, bear griping his wrist and yanking him up with a sudden show of force. Ventus laughed nervously and rubbed the back of his head.

"Thank you, all of you…" Jade said looking back at the newcomers and to Pey'j. "You know if it wasn't for you guys I… I…" she struggled to stay focus. She looked at Ventus, her eyes darting back from Aqua to Riku, then to Kairi, and lastly Pey'j caught her eye. Her vision was coming and going now. She could hear everyone say her name, but it felt like she was being called out from a tunnel, it was so distant, and yet…

"Quick…Jade, hang on…" that was all she remembered hearing.

**Sora and Amaterasu **

"What's the headband for?" Amaterasu asked looking at the black and silver fabric, it had little hearts and crowns stitched into them. Sora had handed her the material several minutes ago and she didn't bother to ask until now. Sora was humming something just staring at the stars that passed by in the one of many Domz ships. This was their third commute to another ship from the Domz Armada. Sora finally looked back and dark browns eyes finally locked with blue cheerful ones.

"It's a present, besides it'll keep your hair from moving around all over the place." Sora said stretching for a moment. "The way I cut it, I put layers on everything, so just give it some time to grow out." He chuckled. "Riku use to have hair like that when he was around 12 years old."

"_Great_…" she rolled her eyes and looked at the fabric in her hands. "I have guy hair now… _Thanks_, Sora." She said noticing the playful smile on her younger brother. He offered to help put the headband on, and even if she said no Sora would've found a way to place it on her. In Sora's eyes this was his best haircut, her hair was thick but he found a way for it to keep a certain style, layered and slightly messy.

"You've got Riku hair, and I've got Zack hair." Sora said moving his bangs to either side of his face. The back had been teased up a bit and he was glad that so far he hadn't gotten a hair cut. "How long do you think it'll take for us to arrive at Hyllis?" he asked looking back at Amaterasu.

"I don't know…" Amaterasu said making her way through the room. She sat on a strange looking chair made out stone. Her dark eyes scanned the infinite view of space as it passed by them through a thick clear window. "I just want to know why they made me summon so many Heartless."

"Helloooooo? Does 'we are undercover agents' not ring a bell?" he asked exaggeratingly. "You're just worried for the Heartless, aren't you?" he asked leaning forward. "That's all you ever care about now."

"Yeah well how'd you feel if your element was getting killed off day in and day out?" she asked gripping the edge of the stone chair. Her nails turned into claws, and Sora noticed that her claws chipped pieces of the chair.

"I wouldn't like it so much… but it's not happening right now." Sora said rubbing the back of his head. "Besides, once we get to the mining planet we can do whatever we please, remember? So long as we look for that person… And it'll give us a great chance to look for a keyhole there too." He said sounding like his optimistic self.

**A/N:** You know what to do **_one_** review please!


	6. VI

**Chapter 6:** **Unus quisnam dat opinion et illud cum ornamentum quondam of keys** (One who reports and those with weapons formed of keys)

"Ne expergisci possint…" Amaterasu sang softly to herself as her young brother and she watched as their small ship began to move away from the rest of the group. Hyllis was within their view now, and it looked like a giant blueberry with some green spotting. Sora pressed his nose against the glass and smiled, for once he was glad to finally see some land, because he didn't want to look at the stars for forever. To the two of them they made it clear they would play by their own rules in order to bring about peace now, but still Sora had a hard time accommodating to that fact, he didn't want the people he protected to hate him because he was working with the enemy for now.

'_It's terrible…_' Amaterasu thought as the ship touched the green grass with a thud. Sora jerked forward, but managed to catch himself. Before their eyes it wasn't the same scenic view as when they were up in space, but instead they were greeted with ruin and destruction. The first thing that made the young wielder of darkness cringe was the fact that several Heartless ships had crash-landed on the soil of the world of Hyllis. The hatched opened and the young girl ran out feeling tears stream down her face crying softly. '_What have they done?_' she asked herself looking at the twisted metal; flames were slowly dying as it consumed whatever life was in the wrecked metallic flyer.

Sora stepped out slowly, looking down at the ground, dirt had been physically thrown all over the place as meteors and Heartless ships ripped apart the green grass of this small area. The young brunette looked up and noticed that the dusk was slowly staring to set in and he sighed to himself. He breathed in the air and hacked a cough, exhaust fumes from destroyed ships and the smell of smoke as well as airborne ashes messed with his nose and lungs. His blue eyes looked across the area, left and right and notice a small figure cradling something in their arms. '_Ammi?_' he felt his feet move him towards her and he noticed that the bundle in her arms was a Heartless. He didn't know if it was dead or alive.

The small Heartless opened its eyes weakly and noticed that a human was slowly moving through the ground, it could hear the slightly shuffling of feet, but it seemed that the figure was crying as well. It closed its eyes once more and felt something fall on its body. It was cold, like their skin, but moist. The antennas moved slowly sensing the presence of a dark heart, and it rested on the hand of its carrier. The human stopped with their movement and looked down gently stroking the forehead of the injured Heartless. It heard the sound of another human who sighed in some sense of relief. One human stated that it was injured, and the other said that there was nothing they could do.

"But… No!" the girl screamed pulling the Heartless away from her sibling. "We _can_ do something…" she said looking at her blue eyed sibling with watery eyes. He hated seeing her in that state. The sibling noticed that slowly the yellow tinges in her eyes were starting to slowly spread over the dark brown irises, slowly but surely. There was no doubt in his mind his eyes would slowly do the same with long exposure to the darkness like his sister.

The creature gave a faint growl and the siblings ceased their minute bickering. The little creature couldn't feel its right arm, and its legs would numb once in a while, it didn't want to struggle. There was no point, that's what it thought, it couldn't continue to live in this pain or wait for that matter for help if there would be any for it. It shook its head weakly and the girl uttered a small cry. The boy watched as the creature pointed to itself and hissed orders on to instruct what the boy should do to ease the pain. He looked back at his sibling and shook his head but the creature again beckoned for an end. The girl placed the creature down gently on the ground, and it looked up at her. The black little creature noticed the faint yellow streak in the iris and it closed it eyes. With a swift flick of the wrist the Keyblade vanished the injured Heartless.

"I'm sorry…" Sora said softly watching her turn away from him, Amaterasu was drying her tears. She shook her head and tried as best as she could to cease the streams of the salty liquid that rolled down her cheeks.

He placed a gentle hand on her shoulder, but she turned around quickly and hugged him tightly closing the gap between the two of them. She didn't try to stop crying, she let the tears fall down on the black Organization XIII coat. Gloved, sympathetic hands rested on her back. Her forehead rested against his shoulder and he felt her fists curl up against the fabric of the coat. '_she's crying for them… because they don't have the heart to do it themselves…_' he thought muttering reassuring words to his sister, in a sense. For once he recognized the scent of the Heartless on human flesh, something so inhuman was the aroma, but strangely he did not pull back from the scent, or from her.

Amaterasu let her hands fall down to her sides, Sora felt her grasp leave completely now. She looked away, and finally her tears had ceased, that was enough for now, she thought. She breathed in the air, the scent of Heartless and smoke filled her senses and the young girl tried to keep her mind together for the sake of her brother, but mostly for herself. She looked into the distance, the tinge in the irises seemed to glow slightly as she felt a familiar presence in the distance, far away from them. She felt something run through her veins and into her heart, something for familiar, old mixed with new, they seemed like different scents of darkness, it confused her.

Still something told her to be happy with that newfound discovery. Sora tensed up a bit looking in the same direction as Amaterasu. He felt something run through his veins, three memorable human existences. One seemed slightly weak against the other two but yet that person's heart had so much light within, it was screaming to be tested out, even Sora could hear the screams, but it suddenly died down as quickly as it was heard.

"_Did you hear that, Sora?_" A familiar voice popped into his head. It belonged to his Nobody by the name of Roxas. Sora could imagine the blonde haired Keyblade wielder looking up in the same direction as him, he was curious as well. "_It's really familiar… that heart, Sora. Naminé…_" Roxas said softly echoing through the corners of Sora's mind. Sora smiled at the mention of the name.

_"Did you hear that?"_ Sora asked quickly creating a link within their hearts. _"I'm not deaf…"_ Amaterasu responded quickly. The two smiled feeling their hearts at ease for now, it meant the ones they sought after were close by, and safe. That was all that mattered to them right now. 

Dark brown eyes and blue eyes looked up at the scene before them, a new world to explore. They were both so different, in appearance and in nature, their views on light and darkness were complete opposites, but the end results were the same.

"So then where do you want to go from here?" Sora asked, placing his hands in his pockets now. His unclothed fingers skimmed across the surface of several keychains. Two had been acquired recently, one had been taken by force at their departure, and Amaterasu, his adopted sibling, kept one safe, out of duty to him and especially for a teenaged boy by the name of Riku Fonovi.

She didn't answer his question, but instead she looked up at the dusk ridden sky. Something caught her attention, an object was trekking across the pinkish, purple, and gold sky, and with each minute it became smaller, and smaller with each moment that went by. The Domz Priest and his loyal subjects were counting on them to do their job for the sake of their own race.

**With Pey'j and the others **

Kairi looked out the window from the safety of the lighthouse, everything looked reminiscent of their old homes back on the islands, wooden furniture and floors, concrete walls, little beds, everything. Something had stirred up Naminé from within her heart, and she was glad the blonde female Nobody had kept her company for this time. She looked away from the window and looked back at the sleeping, Jade. Something had knocked her out, the little talking thing, by the name of Segundo said something about the fight doing something with her psycho-karma, whatever that was.

"She's okay! She's waking up!" Two voices said in unison getting the attention of everyone within earshot. Aqua, Riku, and Kairi looked up from their posts and turned their attention towards Fen and Ven. Pey'j rushed forward and the two kids made room for him.

"Ah, Jade… How ya feeling, darling'?" he asked in a caring tone. Jade tried to sit up once, but stopped and then spoke:

"I'm fine Pey'j… I'm fine…" she said softly as she sat up, holding her head for a moment with one hand. She slumped over, her elbows resting on her knees. "Still no power?" she asked raising her head looking at Pey'j and the others.

Pey'j shook his head:

"Nope. Now that the shield is on the blitz we're sitting ducks for every Vorax in the area." Pey'j said. He was referring to these strange mutated blue flying fish with fangs and other features not found on marine animals.

"What a _pesimisto_," a familiar male voice said, something projected itself from Jade's device and onto the floor by Pey'j and Ven's feet. "Your faithful servant, Segundo, has found the answer for you money _problema_!" the program said happily. Jade thought about it and sighed for a moment.

"Segundo," she said in defeat. "We're stuck here. No hovercraft, shield. Optima has cut off the power." She said softly and looked at everyone within the room. "The account is empty." Jade said, green eyes flickered downward to the floor watching the collection of pixels pace about the room.

"If you want units, you come to me, _mia bella_. Listen to this, the director _señora_ from the Science Center wants a collection of the animal's on the planet. She'll give _dinero_ for any _bonito_ animal. You take a picture of it," he mimicked a camera and pretended to take a picture of something next to Ventus, "and _tengas_ _mucho_ units. Even your _perro_ interests them!" he said looking up at Jade. 

"Not another one of your hair brain plans. Segundo." He snorted. "I'm gonna have to reroute your circuits. Who could _possibly_ be interested in that kind of thing?" Pey'j couldn't help but butt in to the conversation. "We're in the middle of a war, son!" Pey'j sad noticing that the pixilated sprite became life sized now.

Of course Segundo couldn't let this go unnoticed:

"You understand nothing, bacon breath. Control of the species _es muy importante_. Yade you go and get your camera bag. And we'll see if Segundo's…" the program muttered to himself and noticed that Pey'j had walked away at this point. "Ciao…" he said and disappeared back into the device that hung about Jade's waist.

Pey'j told her that he placed her camera bag near the side of the bed, by a little table of some sort. She picked it up, as she had made her way through the area and examined it. Surprisingly it hadn't been damaged during the Domz and Heartless attack that occurred hours ago. She turned it on and watched as the iris of the camera focus on something. She peered through the eye hole and noticed the smiling faces of the kids and the newcomers who had strange weapons. She pressed the small button at the corner of the camera and a flash appeared, rendering a moment in time frozen so to speak. She noticed a strange looking ladybug land on a wooden barrel within the area, and zoomed in, the shutter fluttered and the image was taken.

A voice startled her and the others as well. It was the woman from the Science Center that Segundo had spoken about earlier. The woman transferred some units into Jade's account and that was the end of that. Jade signaled to Ven and the others to come outside with her, and they did. The children stayed inside watching some Vorax zip past the window, and they gasped a little. Fen was going to stay something but Jade had already left.

"Ven…" Jade said looking back at the young blonde haired teen. "Be careful, these are Vorax…" she said motioning to the strange flying marine looking creature. "You too, Kairi." She said looking back at the wine colored female. "Try and stall them for me while I get a clear shot at them, okay?" she was asking Aqua and Riku to do it, since they were on par in skill. Vieh walked among them ready to defend his master if the time called to do so.

**With Terra and the others **

Abedo flopped down to the green grass and drew out a long breath; he couldn't stand being within the dark portals that the Memory Witch produced. Terra walked out calmly, his heart had been use to this 'abuse' as Abedo bluntly put it, he looked down and noticed the replica turning over and staring up at the night time sky. Ames walked out of the dark portal still holding a strange looking bag with strange unknown contents. It took a couple of minutes before Ames and Terra sat down, away from one another, they were trying to see the state of the world they landed on. If it wasn't for Ames, and her tracking devices, she might have never found Sora and Amaterasu.

Abedo watched from the corner of his eye, Ames sat next to him, his elbow lightly touching her thigh. He blushed and turned his head slowly pretending that something else caught his eye. Ames was unaware of the whole action though, simply lost in her thoughts. '_False collection of lies and fabricated memories… I wonder… they will forgive me?_' she thought to herself and looked up at the sky trying to find her answers written in the stars, but she didn't.

"How have you been? A voice crept into her mind. She jumped and looked around. Abedo cleared his throat.

"Oh, Abedo, didn't see you there…" she said laughing nervously, it was true after all, and the replica muttered something. "What do you mean 'how have I been'?" Ames asked. Abedo watched as faint silver hairs lightly touched her cheek before giving an answer.

"I mean, we haven't had a friendly conversation since…" he paused hearing her scribble on her sketchpad. He heard the small rasping sounds as her left hand took its time to produce an image on paper. "Well, since the whole Sora and Ammi think back at Castle Oblivion…"

"You're talking about _your_ memories…" Ames said softly looking to the side. She captured a lone figure sitting in the darkness, and etched it into her memory. Without hesitating she attacked the piece of paper with her left hand, the pencil created the lines its master wanted. "Huh…" she remembered fully what memories he spoke about, she had after all created them from scratch and some did happen in real life. "Yeah… we have been busy…"

"Exactly… so how have you been?" he asked turning over to his side to look directly at her. Abedo watched with his blue eye as he left hand paused, he was glad that question got her thinking more. For now, he took advantage of the small conversations that he had with her, _real_ conversations, not those fabricated memories.

Ames smiled that same Abedo had seen when he had entered her room, she was glad for some reason. Thus she spoke:

"I'm… doing okay…" she said sighing and placing a hand on his head. "I'll be fine as long as I have you… and Terra." She said ruffling up Abedo's hair. "So, how have been, Abedo?" she asked in return.

Abedo groaned thinking back to the crushing feeling he experienced when he had entered the dark portal for the first time, it was something he didn't want to experience ever again, but he knew that was impossible.

"I feel like something was trying to take my heart out earlier," he paused noticing that her hand hadn't left his head yet. "How do you put up with that, with that heavy feeling in your heart, when you go through it?" he asked and that point Ames withdrew her hand.

"I don't know… I guess it's because my original is part of that element, it makes sense for _me_ to be somewhat like her in that sense…" she said looking down at the drawing she had made. "You're something different though…"

"Yeah… Terra's heart is _obviously_ stronger than mines…" Abedo said looking up at the stars. "Where are we anyway?"

"A mining planet, by the name of Hyllis." She said softly pushing back some thick strands of silver hair away from her face. "And you're wrong about your heart… it's strong. We all have our strengths and weakness, you know that." She said in a way a mother would instruct a child.

Abedo and Ames heard a something in the distance and they turned around to see who was walking towards them. Terra placed himself behind the replica and the Memory Witch, smiling at both of them. The replica was a bit disappointed that the sudden burst of Terra's approach, but at least he had spoken to the Memory Witch alone even if for a couple of minutes.

"We need a boat…" Terra said referring more to Ames' talent with objects. "This place is separated into islands it seems." He said looking out into the night, watching the crescent moon reflect on the shimmering waters. "There's a city over there…" he pointed to the distance in which little hovering vehicles entered, or exited a large tunnel.

"But the state of this world…" Abedo said softly noticing some areas had been engulfed in flames. "We'll be lucky if we even get _into_ the city." He said looking back at Terra, who seemed to agree with him. Ames was busy drawing something that looked like a hovering vehicle and pressed both of her hands onto the piece of paper. The two watched as by the shore of the island something materialized, it looked like a car of some sort.

Abedo looked at Ames, who seemed to move to the left, and he sat up in time o catch her from falling further. Terra placed a gentle hand on her shoulder and she smiled closing her eyes for a moment.

"One boat… hot off the paper…" she said laughing softly. "It'll only last one trip to the city, once we park, it'll turn into paper…so no side trips, okay?"

"What are we going to do about money?" Abedo asked, that was the question on their minds now.

"Good question…" both Ames and Terra said.

**Within the sacred realm **

A dark colored orb hovered about a compass that had metal rings rotating around it, making the compass the center of attention. A woman in mid-thirties appeared. Her skin was dark as the shadows, with equally dark robes that had silver linings and designs. She pushed her long back, her yellow eyes flickered across the reflective surface of the compass. She smiled, flashing her fangs to the reflective material of the looking glass on the strange compass. She looked up from the compass and saw an orb engulfed in flames. A man around the same age as the woman materialized behind her. His was as white as the purest light, with eyes as blue as the sky, adorned in white robes with the same manner of designs and silver linings as the woman of darkness.

"This are going according to plan," the flaming orb said in a booming voice. For a small second the compass' rings stopped rotating. The two elements looked up at the flaming orb with reverence. "He still will not remember for some time…" the voice said holding some remorse within the manner it was addressed. "She will eventually know her true memories and his will awaken…"

"But that will take time…" the figure in dressed in black said, the flaming orb noticed the intensity within her eyes. "You seriously think that-"

"That is enough…" the flaming orb said acting as a voice to the one who was in charge. "I understand your concern with the girl, I know. But still, it is better that she remember slowly."

"It's not…" she growled and looked away. "We worked to hard to teach them… and _she-_"

"_We_ should've gotten rid of her when she was created." The figure dressed in white said quickly cutting off his sibling. "Or at least place her back into the person that she came out of. Listen, Sister…" the figure in white said softly. "I'm suffering just like you with _him_." She looked up at him as he said this and sighed in defeat.

"Sorry…" the figure with the yellow eyes said looking up at the flaming orb. "It's not our job to act on emotions but still they are of our own elements."

"For right now, they are lucky… the world thinks they have vanished."

**The Castle that Never Was **

"You had better not be lying to me, Xian." The Superior said sitting across from the long white table. Xejicka had given the piece of data to Xian who had given it to the Superior of their _beloved_ organization. She watched him for a moment and looked away, her slightly golden eyes noticed something in the distance, the sky was starting to twist and go out of focus like it normally did. "I know for a fact Xejicka… can lie at points." He said trying hard not to cough. "Yet that would explain why we haven't felt their presence in a while."

"If they are truly dead…" Xian, Number VII, began to speak. "That means that Kingdom Key and Way to Night will have to look for their new masters soon." She said looking up at the amber eyes of her beloved leader. "Wouldn't you agree?"

"Absolutely…" another voice entered the meeting. Xian looked up and noticed the green eyes of the _Melodious Nocturne_. "I was wondering when you would catch on, _Lunar Diviner_." He said giving her a playful smile.

"So then, Xehart," the Superior brought his hands on the table. "What was the result?" he asked looking at the brown haired Organization member.

"Just as Xejicka said, bodies were burned and mauled beyond recognition…" he said rubbing his arm feeling uneasy about remembering the bodies he had seen moments ago. "I know she wouldn't lie, I trust her." He said summoning a chair so that he could sit at the long table was well.

"Very well…" the Superior said, still with his hood covering his face. "It is a good thing that our former member, number XIII left us with valuable candidates, since he stole the remaining the keychains from the former wielder of Kingdom Key. I'll just have them prove themselves to the two Keyblades."

"Do we even know where they are?" Xian asked. She had interrupted the Superior when he spoke, but he took the action lightly. "I mean… Superior, do we know the location of those two Keyblades? It could be possible they went back to Ki-"

The Superior raised one white glove to silence the _Lunar Diviner_:

"I doubt they went back to the heart of all hearts. They sense danger after all so long as we do our part, is that clear to you?" his voice was cold, scolding her for forgetting what it was they were sent to do. She bit her lip, embarrassed, and nodded her head. Xehart watched as the light blue haired female darted away for a quick second, the _Melodious Nocturne _couldn't wait to tell Xejicka what happened.

"Besides the wielder of Light and Darkness hold the key to that sacred object…" he said looking back at the strange looking circular object. It seemed to be spinning. "I am not able to do as much as the wielders of those two elements. Neither can the current humans under our protection. They are useless for right now."

Away from the meeting room Xejicka, the _Flurry of the Dancing Flames_, was munching on a cookie looking for something to keep her mind occupied on. Xehart, her good friend had left somewhere, which he forgot to mention was very important. Her good friends had died within less than a year, thanks two the two former Keyblade bearers, Sora and Amaterasu. All she had now was to train those the other Keyblades had chosen. Terra, formerly known as the _Key of Destiny_, had been almost wiped off of the face of the universe thanks to the Memory Witch, Ames. Nusvext and Xauqa had been careless into thinking they could take the combined strengths of the two Keyblade wielders alone.

Xiaga had been killed by both the replica of Terra, and himself. Xiaga had done nothing wrong to her at least, or to the Memory Witch, but it was all part of their plan back when they were still _friends_, as she had once mentioned. Ruxsud, the _Silent Hero_, reminded her of someone back when she was 'alive' but that seemed like ages ago. He had been a good friend and mentor to her. Shimasax, the _Chilly Academic_, he crept her out and he was easy to punk that much she enjoyed.

There were at least some members that were still alive, but their numbers now had been reduced almost to half, this wasn't good at all. '_I wonder if all Organization members meet their fate just as the ones they were modeled after did…_' it was a question that plagued her thoughts.

"And Ames just had to take the journals too…" Xejicka said biting into another chocolate chip cookie. Her dark brown hair was tied into a bun for now since she had taken a shower. Those journals recorded the events of the previous members of Organization XIII when Sora had first fought them.

**Sora and Amaterasu **

Sora hummed something as they were within the one of the ships of the Alpha Section. Apparently they had been expecting them for some time now. The members of the Alpha Section spoke in hush voices, and Amaterasu could sense the darkness they harbored within their hearts, all part of her training. Sora couldn't sense any trace of light within them, there was nothing, just pitch black.

_"It's weird… humans should have some light within their hearts…"_ Sora said creating a mental link with Amaterasu. The girl looked up and felt her shoulders stiffen for a moment. She didn't like the vibe around her at all, but she tried to keep calm. _"You think it's a trap?"_ he asked her.

Within Sora's mind he saw himself and Amaterasu sitting across from each other from a black and white checkered table, with their hands folded on the table. Amaterasu looked down and Sora saw the small streak of yellow in her irises.

_"You're getting them too…"_ Amaterasu said in a low voice breaking Sora's train of thought for a moment. Within the realm of their connected minds she saw Sora's side begin to break a bit, pieces were chipping off. Did that mean he still feared the darkness a bit? She tried to reassure him that the only thing keeping him normal was the immense light that he harbored in his heart.

_"Does it hurt?"_ he asked her, and she smiled trying hard not to laugh. He smiled a bit and his blue eyes looked down at her hands, he didn't remember her having black fingernails, or even noticed that they were sharp.

_"Side effect…"_ she said shoving the back side of her hand to Sora. He moved away noticing the Heartless like claws on his sibling. _"Not to worry though…"_ she sounded so sure. _"As long as I have you by my side, Sora, I'll be all right." _

_"You sure?"_ he asked leaning forward. _"I mean… I'm not Riku."_ He said placing his elbows on the table so he could place his chin on his fists. _"I can't be your Riku anyway. We're related now and that would mean incest…" _

_"You-be-Riku?!"_ she couldn't help but laugh slamming on fist playfully on the table. Sora noticed the silver ring on her right hand and he looked down at the silver ring on his right hand, which was their constant reminder of the happy lives they had taken by accident, and the destruction of the Keyblade. Amaterasu wiped some of the happy tears away and shook her head. _"Sora you dummy. You're like my brother, and I need you as family…" _

_"Because Yomigami's not here…"_ he said tilting his white colored chair back. _"He's probably trying to get into Yuffie's shorts…" _

_"Ew…" _She coughed in disgust and scrunched up her face for a bit. _"He's not that much in tune with his hormones… he's really reserved."_

_"I wonder what Kairi's doing right now…"_ Sora asked out loud staring up at the white sky from within their mental sanctuary.

_"Well she's not doing you…"_ she couldn't help but get that sentence in. Sora's face became scarlet, she had gotten him flustered. The brown skinned girl smiled at the look on her younger sibling's face.

The mental link had broken and the two elemental wielders found themselves within the Alpha Section's ship. They looked out the window and watched them soar past houses on hill tops and some of the homes within the city. A couple of hovering fire trucks rushed past them going into the city, they could see some of the flames from the burning buildings. Something caught Amaterasu's eyes, a small boat was slowly making it's way into the city. '_Her…_' she thought sadly. One of the people from the Alpha Section sighed and continued towards their destination. They felt so alienated from the world of Hyllis, they didn't even have time to look at the city, they were whisked off into another building. Sora asked one of the soldiers where it was they were going, and he grunted for a moment, taken by surprise that he could talk.

"Headquarters…" the soldier simply said as Sora tried to look for a pair of eyes within the red visor the helmet had.

"After that, you can do whatever you want." Another one said, they looked up and noticed that it was coming from the loudspeaker. "I guess the Supreme Commander must have made a deal of some sort to get you guys… It's weird, you guys aren't Hyllians though… so why would he go through the trouble of giving you Alpha Section protection?"

"Have you guys ever heard of a Keyblade?" Sora asked looking at the others around him. So of them chuckled and other sat there without saying a word. Sora carefully pulled out Crabclaw and summoned it into his hand. Amaterasu looked at him, stunned; she had thought for a moment that he would've brought out Kingdom Key in an instant. '_But we're undercover…_' she thought remembering that small detail. Amaterasu was glad that Sora was using his head for once on this.

"I use to think it was a child's fairy tale…" one of the soldiers said chuckling. "Guess we were wrong then…eh?" another Alpha Section soldier chuckled and nodded. "Makes since then why he'd want you two protected…" the soldier said and looked at Amaterasu. "Hey what's up with your friend, does she talk?" he asked catching Sora's eyes for a moment. The brunette nodded and looked back at Amaterasu nudging her in the ribs with his elbow.

"Heh…" Amaterasu laughed nervously and bowed a bit. She shook her head as some of the hair from her messy bangs went to her face and sneezed for a second. "Sorry, I just sort of dozed off." She said rubbing her eyes.

"Sort of?" one of the soldiers snorted. "More like 'did'…" he said watching the smirk on the girl's face.

**With Jade and the others **

"Nice work, Jade!" the humanoid hog, Pey'j, called out watching the shield come up, and pushing back the flying Vorax around the area. He looked up at the sky and smiled. "I'm going to make sure everything else is working!" He said. Pey'j was already at the other side of the area, and he pushed one of the doors that blocked his entrance. He noticed something by the doorway and smiled to himself. A strange looking small droid of some sort was hovering about the door way with little flashing lights.

"Come down here as soon as you can. Looks like you got another mission!" he said cupping his hand around his mouth to try and get the message across. He watched Jade and the others walk back inside to rest for a while.

Jade sat down and stretched her aching limbs, she had felt a bit tired from the Domz fight, not to mention she had passed out right after, and then fighting and evading Vorax from some pictures wasn't a piece of cake either. Kairi felt her eyes twitch watching Ventus help himself to a piece of pie within the refrigerator that was in the distance. Vieh closed his eyes snoozing in Riku's arms, he was tired as well, he wasn't use to fighting continuously. Aqua right now didn't care that Ven did so long as he kept her out of it. She sat by Jade's side and breathed in trying to relax her muscles. Jade didn't seem that tired as the others did, probably because she practiced breathing techniques.

"Mamago Garage sustained damage…" the television set in the distance was on, and Jade listened in slightly. '_We really in the middle of a war…_' she thought opening her eyes for a moment. After guiding the others to the top of the lighthouse tower, Ventus noticed something in the distance.

"Hey look!" the little blonde fighter cried out. "It's some sort of beaver!" he said looking back at Jade. "Hurry up before it gets away Jade."

"Hold on…" Jade said taking out her camera as fast as possible. Kairi brought out her Keyblade watching the little beaver like creature and she frowned. '_Beaver… Why?! Why'd it have to be beaver?!_' she thought giving the beaver like creature a deadly glare.

"Her name… if you break it down it doesn't refer to just 'sea' but 'beaver' too…" Riku said backing away from Kairi.

"Beaver!" Ventus couldn't help but laugh about. "You… Beaver!" he said feeling little balls of tears rolling down his cheek. "Keyblade wielding beaver…" The little beaver like creature chattered away with something and dropped something. "Ouch!" it was a pebble.

"Thanks Mr. Beaver!" Aqua said smacking Ventus on the back. He lurched forward and groaned. "Stop!" she heard Kairi call out, freezing the beaver in time. Jade took the chance to take the picture and sighed.

"Stop…" Jade repeated softly and watched as the beaver raised a webbed little paw into the air and it threatened with something. Jade didn't speak beaver though, and it walked away, minding its own business at the top of the lighthouse. "So that was a spell?" she asked looking at Kairi.

"Yep…" the rest of them said as Kairi dismissed her Keyblade. "We call them out using our Keyblades…" Aqua said pulling out hers, it went by the name of Rumbling Rose. "There are some true masters who can call out the spells with their hands though, or even without saying the name of the spell. Only one true Keyblade Master didn't have to use his Keyblade that much."

"But Aqua moves so fast with her spells, it's like she doesn't even use her Keyblade at all." Ventus said putting his hands over his head. The others agreed, and the chatter woke up Vieh, he didn't seem to be in a good mood right now, he was sort of like a child. Riku chuckled, and kept the little silver bundle of fur in his arms.

More units were transferred into Jade's account and with that they all made their way downstairs. Wuf, her white dog, caught her attention. It had a box of K-Bups in its sleeping jaws. She walked closer to the little cove in which is slept and placed on knee on the ground; her hand was hovering over the little pink box in its mouth. '_Woof, you know you're not supposed to steal this from the kids…_' she thought.

"Come on Woof, this is no time to play…" she said, and watched the dogs open quickly. He jumped up to his feet and ran down the stairs quickly. "No…no!" she said watching him go father away from her. "Woof come on, give it here." Jade demanded running after her dog. Kairi and the others had no choice but to follow after her.

Woof ran outside the lighthouse and circled around a couple of rocks, taunting Jade with his playful barks. On one occasion he dropped the box of K-Bups and watched as Jade ran forward, but it picked up the box and evaded her hands at all cost. Jade pleaded with the dog and at last rolled forward, grabbing Woof by the neck, the two tumbled down, Woof seemed happy for some reason. Jade patted the white dog on the head, and watched as it dropped the pink box.

"You lost flea bag…" she said jokingly and ruffled the fur by his neck, and he barked wagging his tail. "Come on, let's go see what Pey'j wants." She said looking back at the others. They followed her through the area and into another door that required someone to push the little hand signal. The wooden door went up and it revealed another passageway deep into the boulder it was cut out of.

"Jade and friend reporting!" the little hovering droid said guiding them through the well lit pathway of carved rocks. They found Pey'j in his workshop fixing something that Jade knew could read something called an 'M-disk'. The slightly old humanoid hog was fixing the inside muttering words that Jade and the others couldn't hear. The screen in front started to give off that static noise and Vieh perked up, he looked straight ahead and noticed the screen there. Pey'j muttered saying that the 'M-disk' on the table could possibly be another job for her and hew new friends. Times were very hard, with the war going on.

Jade picked up the disk and placed it inside the little M-disk decoding device. It was from a Mr. De Castellac as the disk displayed the name before the user. Long story short as everyone was present watching the slideshow with the recorded audio, Mr. De Castellac had a mission for Jade, and her new friends. They had to go to an ancient mine on Black Isle, there was a big reward involved since the mission was stated as dangerous by the bald man within the video clip. Jade asked her adopted uncle, Pey'j whether he had heard of this De Castellac guy, but he denied it. Pey'j looked at the young woman that was his niece and told her not to go, he didn't trust that De Castellac.

"Are you _loco_? We need _dinero_ to protect us from those stinking Domz." Segundo said quickly rematerializing into the discussion. Pey'j looked back at Riku and Kairi, he wanted them to make Jade stay for her own safety, but they didn't know what to say.

"It's okay Pey'j… I mean if you want I'll go alone." She said placing the disc by her little scanning device and watched is disappear into the mechanical device that hung by her waist.

Pey'j protested and said that he and the kids, he looked back at Aqua and the other when he said this, would go along with her. Kairi and Riku brought up the discussion of the Heartless, and Jade nodded, she knew she didn't have a chance if she fought those things all by herself. Segundo watched as Pey'j walked away, muttering something.

"Without me this whole place would fall apart…" he mumbled. And on cue as he walked out the door, the little fan that was on the door way broke and crashed into the ground. The program chuckled and shook his head, he finished downloading a map for Jade, and told the other four teens that there was a small little device by them, a sort of digital map for them. They each picked on up, from the table close by them and pressed the power button. It gave off a little signal for each person in the area, who had a device such as this; it worked with Jade's device as well.

"Jade Reporting and company needs to fill its piggy bank…" she said looking back at the teens beside her. They went outside of the little area and noticed the rest of Pey'j's workshop. Ventus and Kairi noticed a strange looking hovercraft in the distance. They had never seen on before, nor did Riku or Aqua. Pey'j was trying to push the huge looking battery closer to a hook like device and Aqua lent a hand. She placed a Magnet spell on the hook like device and it moved faster than lightning. Pey'j looked back and gave Aqua a thumbs up.

"We should probably get going to the Mamago Garage. They have the parts we need to get this old stupid hovercraft working." He said watching them all come down the steps. With that everyone went inside the little green pastel colored hovercraft and watched the scenery move by them. Jade steered the hovercraft and every now and then it would jump, backfiring. The hovercraft was in pretty bad shape all right.

**Black Isle **

Sora and Amaterasu watched as the Alpha Section guards walked away from the strange looking arena. They were told to wait here for a while until their cue was given through an earpiece in Sora's ear. There was an unearthly growl coming from the area and they noticed a couple of holes in the ground, they were very large, probably belonging to a creature that lived here. They noticed a pair of eyes looking at them from a hole, and the command was given through Sora's earpiece. He looked at Amaterasu and outstretched his hand, and Amaterasu followed mimicking his movement. Sora's right hand started to create a white ball of light, and Amaterasu's left hand create a ball of pure darkness, and with that the elemental bombs were chucked into the hole.

The creature howled in pain, and it emerged from the hole, a very huge looking dragon of some sort with various wings, like an overgrown eel of some sort. It had the crest of a Nobody on it now, and it stopped dead in its tracks eyeing Amaterasu and Sora with both of its identical eyes. It purred softly and wrapped itself around Sora and Amaterasu purring, for such a large and wide creature.

"Yeah… yeah it's a Nobody now." Sora said talking into the microphone that was placed in his Organization XIII coat. "Yeah… No it's okay, we don't need back up, it's pretty much calm right now. You're asking me how? Obviously this creature had a heart, and it was stolen by the darkness, and with the light its body was destroyed… so then it turned into this Nobody right on the spot." He said looking back at Amaterasu and shrugged, he didn't know what else to say. She told him to cut off the transmission, and so he did.

"I take it they're going to send some people for us then?" she asked patting the large Nobody eel on the head. Sora nodded and looked around, he had never seen a mine so bright as this one. Crystals and strange looking rocks covered the area. Hyllis was a beautiful world in Sora's eyes. Amaterasu nuzzled against the Nobody and looked at the color combination of silver, white, and black. "You should be going back now…" Amaterasu said softly to the overgrown winged eel.

"You should go and sleep now…" Sora said looking at the eel. He hated the fact they had turned a magnificent creature such as this into a Nobody, but it was the order of the Alpha Section. Rumor was that someone was trying to steal the creature, and it needed to be protected, and what better way to give it protection than for it to be a Nobody. Still Sora and Amaterasu felt sorry for it as it was would wander around Hyllis searching for a heart for all of eternity. "Once we find the Keyhole for this place we'll put the eel out of misery and take it back to Kingdom Hearts…" he said looking back at Amaterasu.

"You still haven't taken my decision into account…" a voice said echoing through the area as the eel slide back into its huge hole for slumber. "Hello? A Nobody speaking for the better being of another fellow Nobody. Just let it live… I mean nothing will happen to it here, there aren't any Keyblade wielders here. And for a fact I doubt Kairi and Riku would be here, first of all I don't think they'd even be able to make it to the Realm of Darkness." Roxas said, sounding pretty sure of himself.

"True…" the other two said in unison and nodded, Roxas seemed right.

Unknown to them Jade and the others had their hovercraft breakdown miles away from Mamago Garage, but the crew from Mamago passed by luckily and transported them to the garage, towing them free of charge. Then, as things seemed to be going well once they left the Mamago Garage after purchasing the new engines with the pearl Jade won earlier, a strange looking snake of some sort was sent in by the Domz, terrorizing the water, and all the boats. Jade was trying her best to steer the ship, while Ven and Aqua were off trying to hit the flying creature created by the Domz. Their efforts had paid off though since the huge flying Domz creature gave a pearl for its defeat. From what Pey'j said about pearls they were outlawed and were worth fortunes on the black market.

"So this is Black Isle…" Vieh said softly following after Riku as his master stopped in his tracks a bit. Jade nodded and noticed a black hovercraft in the distance on the other side of the shore. They all made their way through the wooden bridge, and Ven pointed out to some possible animal candidates for the Science Center. With a flash from the camera more animals had their pictures taken not to mention more units in Jade's pocket.

"You think that's Mr. De Castellac?" Vieh asked walking alongside his master. Riku shrugged and looked at the woman who was leading them towards the bald man with the dark tinted sunglasses, and a black moustache.

"Probably not… De Castellac would probably have someone fill in for him." Jade said remembering something from those old spy movies. They made their way through the bridge and looked at the mysterious bald in man in the black suit. It was the same man from the M-disk message that much Jade remembered.

"Hello Ms. Jade… and…?" the man with the dark sunglasses looked at Jade as she approached him, and the other children around her.

"They're friends…" she said looking in their direction, they each bowed towards the man. Pey'j just merely grunted.

"Yes," he cleared this throat. "My employer Mr. De Castellac and the inhabitants of Hyllis wish to see an end to this war. The Alpha Sections calm to be holding off the Domz but they are hiding the truth from us." he said in all seriousness. "The Domz monsters have already invaded everyone corner of our planet."

"And Heartless…" Kairi said, gasping at the fact she said it out loud. The man looked at her rather perplexed.

"What are, heartless?" he asked looking at the group of teenagers. Pey'j and Jade had been meaning to ask that question as well.

"They are the darkness in hearts of living beings given shape and form." Kairi said softly looking at Pey'j, Jade, and the man before them.

"They have a thirst for hearts, and are most attracted to pure hearts too." Aqua said adding some more description to the Heartless.

"So that's what they're called…" the man said mostly to himself. Ventus caught what he said and raised his eyebrow in a questioning look.

"Both of the populations of Heartless, and Domz, will grow and overshadow the Hyllians if something is not done." The man said as if he knew something. "Mr. De Castellac is willing to pay a hefty sum for these three specimens…" he said pulling out something from inside his left breast. Two of them were Domz creatures and the other creature was a black looking chameleon.

**A/N:** You know what to do **_one_** review please!

_Ne expergisci possint_ means 'they will never wake' in Latin. It's a verse from the new Final Fantasy XIII theme song.


	7. VII

**Chapter 7: Nos obduco cum aevum **(We are still growing)

"Why would Mr. De Castellac want pictures of these things…?" Aqua asked as they all walked into the old mining shaft within Black Isle. Pey'j just kept on complaining about it all saying that De Castellac was out of his mind. Jade and Ven on the other hand wanted to do this for the good of the Hyllians, even though Riku and Kairi said Ven was just doing it for the money. Vieh was sniffing the soil of the old mine, it didn't seem anything different like the soil back on Destiny Island.

"But what's Stealth Sneak doing in a place like this?" Riku asked looking at the picture that Jade had in her hand. That was the type of Heartless that it was. It was a giant chameleon like Heartless with an emblem on its chest. No one else really knew why something so big would be there, it wasn't its nature, they mostly liked being in lush green areas.

"You think the Domz are using the Heartless?" Jade asked as they stopped in front of something that appeared to be a dead end.

"If they are it doesn't really matter… we're going to get rid of them." Riku said looking up at the broken wooden ladder in the distance. Vieh looked up and noticed that something was buzzing by his ears. His ears twitched trying to swat the annoying fly away.

"So…" Jade examined the broken ladder and looked back at the others. "I don't suppose any of you could fly…?" she asked chuckling.

Pey'j stepped forward and Kairi stopped from advancing. '_They use other things beside pixie dust?_' she asked herself, she could hear Naminé chuckling from within her mind. Ven looked at Pey'j perplexed as did the other Keyblade wielders. He said that he had been working on something for two years, somewhere along the lines that it would be the transportation of the future. Ventus looked at him with a careful eye and then back to the others and shrugged, he didn't know what Uncle Pey'j was going to do.

"…contract the abdomen muscles…" he said explaining how the device worked. "…pressurized methane…" Something would travel down from the thin container located on the behind of the pig's pants. "And it travels down to the jet boots."

"Wait!" Ventus cried out shaking his head. "You mean to tell me those things run on farts?! They run on butt gas?! What the heck…?"

Pey'j snorted and looked back at Ventus and shook his head. He allowed himself to demonstrate.

"This is the transportation of the future, son!" Pey'j said as the gas traveled into the boots creating a sort of fuel that lifted the older humanoid pig into the air. His catch phrase for this was-

"Who says 'chili con carne'?" Ventus asked looking back at his fellow Keyblade wielders, and they couldn't help but amuse themselves with the catch phrase. Vieh shut his eyes tightly and his ears went back. Jade watched as something went wrong and…

THUD! He landed right on his rear, and he shook his head trying to dismiss it as if it were nothing. '_I guess pigs weren't meant to fly…_' Aqua thought as Pey'j picked himself up. Pey'j waved his hand and he seemed to be all right, but his reputation as an inventor seemed to drop a bit with that last stunt.

"Two years worth of secrecy…" Jade added and smirked. She meant nothing by it, and the others felt at ease to laugh a bit. Riku and Vieh spotted the strange looking scale that seemed to move thanks to Pey'j's unintentional drop to the earth. "It worked out in the end…" she said to herself noticing that the force hit onto the scale would send the other person upwards. "Hey Pey'j come on and help me out with this thing."

Everyone gathered around the strange looking scale and Jade placed herself on one side. Pey'j launched himself into the air with his jet boots, and once he fell back to earth again, gravity pressed into the little scale, and the end part of the contraption on which Jade stood launched her into the air. She grabbed the ledge of the man made walkway and looked around for a moment. The mine looked even more beautiful from there and she couldn't help but take a picture, she figured she'd have enough time to make copies later. Her green eyes looked around and noticed a little circular valve in between two tall wooden beams. She ran forward picking enough momentum to climb up the wooden beams, and using all of her leg strength she held herself right below the strange looking valve.

Pey'j watched as the two large bridges from the top of the area began to move, and soon they fell, creating a walkway between this area and the next. Jade let herself fall and she touched the ground, and she cleaned her hands, realigning her gloves for a moment. Vieh sniffed the air cautiously and looked around as they appeared to make their way up to the second level of the mine. Riku watched as the little silver hound looked around with its yellow colored eyes. It didn't sense anything even remotely hostile so that was a good sign to everyone. '_We're looking for a Heartless and a pair of earthworms…_' Jade thought at they walked ahead deeper into the mine.

"Hey what's this?" a voice pierced through Jade's thoughts on the whole situation at hand. She looked up and noticed that there was a strange orange colored spore in the ground. She poked at it with her Daï-jo and noticed it jiggled a bit at contact with another type of matter. Ven brought out Diamond Dust and poked it as well, it seemed like it could jump out if it wanted too, but it didn't seem agitated enough. Riku suggested that Pey'j try his jet boot attack again, and once again the ground around them shook. The strange looking jelly like spore rose into the air and once again it went back into its safe little hole. Vieh sniffed it and turned away in disgust the smell was much worse for a hound's nose.

Aqua and Kairi noticed a strange looking box in the distance it was a box filled with explosives. Jade told them that the strange little spore had some explosive properties, making it useful after all. From that point it was a contest to see who could whack the little spore fare enough into the box with the explosives. It was the only way they could advance deeper into the mine after all. Ven's little spore ended up hitting a box of explosives not that far away but that wasn't the target of choice. Riku's spore went over the designated target and hit something, whatever it was it shattered into a million pieces of so. The guys in the group were having fun, but in all seriousness they needed to explore the ancient mines.

Jade was the last one to hit the spore and it hit the explosives in the center of it all. The box exploded and as a result a new path had opened up, but it had been blocked off by a mutant anemone! Kairi pulled out a strange looking Keyblade, it seemed very familiar but the design caught her off guard. '_It's mine…_' Naminé said sharing a small memory of when she had become her own separate being, during the time the Dark Master had made his presence known to all the worlds.

_"Let me look at it…" Sora said taking the weapon from Naminé's hands. Within moments of contact against the gloved hands of the '_ _Chosen__ One' a keychain formed in replacement of the rusted Keyblade. In the 'Room of Sleep' that Keyblade's true nature was hidden, but awoke when it felt Sora's presence near. 'Aqua…' the boy thought hearing a whisper within the walls of his mind. _

_"What are you doing to name it?" he asked Kairi's Nobody. She looked at the handle and the newly formed keychain that hung on it. It seemed to model a grey colored design of a planet of some sort. She knew the name of the world in which __Radiant_ _Garden__ was placed in and smiled holding the blade proudly… _

"Gaia…" Kairi said softly to herself letting the words flow from her lips. She gripped the handle of the Keyblade tightly and smiled letting the warm energy flow through her whole being. She could feel the manifestation of fire gather to the tip of the Keyblade, and the heat began to radiate from the entire blade. Vieh tilted his head and looked at the flames that began to circle around the Princess of Heart. The Keyblade was taking control of the spell, not Kairi, and it surprised Aqua a bit but she felt relieved. Within seconds something gave out a small shout and it filled the room, a voice was heard, it spoke so softly and so inviting as the flames moved forward. The anemone that blocked their path retreated feeling the heat from the flames that the Keyblade had fired.

"Thanks, Kairi." Jade said patting the young teen on the back. "Come on you guys, let's get this thing done.

**With Sora and Amaterasu **

Sora was looking through the channels on the Hyllian network and flipped through each channel, watching five minutes of it, or until the commercial break came on. He sighed and stopped at the local Hyllian News. Something caught his eyes and he looked intently on the screen. A voice in back of his head was telling him to move closer and Sora leaned in a bit trying to get a better look at the screen. '_No… CLOSER!_' the young voice said and the young Keyblade wielder felt his knees hit the ground, and he was pretty close to the screen of the television.

"Cut!" a voice said loudly on the screen, but another camera was still rolling, oblivious to what the person in charge was saying. "Hey pop, stay zen. Don't get your snout bent out of shape." The television continued with its audio and visual part of the presentation.

"What the…?!" Sora covered his mouth and the next thing he knew Roxas' voice was coming out from his mouth. "Let go Sora!" the voice said as it was muffled by the hands of the one in control. Amaterasu was close by in another room and sighed biting into a piece of toast she had just made. It was late in the morning, probably getting close to the afternoon and they were barely having breakfast.

"Roxas hold on!" she would often hear Sora speak out in his usual voice, and at times Roxas' voice could be heard from the mouth of his original. This was the second time things like this had happened to the young Keyblade bearer. Roxas' voice was muffled once more and the young brown skinned girl shook her head biting into the toast for the third time. She was trying to hear the news, but with those two things seemed almost downright impossible. "Roxas--!"

THUD

Amaterasu pulled out her Keyblade and stood up looking around with her eyes. She didn't sense a presence at all. '_Caught off guard?_' she asked herself looking around the kitchen. Sora groaned in pain, and she couldn't hear Roxas' voice for the time being. She walked cautiously through the kitchen with her back against the wall, and the counter, slowly making her way through the area, she would be prepared for anything that came her way. Sora groaned again and Amaterasu couldn't ignore his cry for help and she ran into the living room with her Keyblade at her side. She sound of metal hitting metal caught her attention as she opened her eyes and looked at Crab Claw locked with her own Keyblade.

"Ro…Roxas?" Amaterasu couldn't help but ask; still her Keyblade wouldn't get off of the one that Roxas held. He pulled back and pressed something on the remote that rewound the entire five minutes that he had missed with Sora's outburst. Sora sat up clutching his forehead and glared up at Roxas in a sort of pouting gesture that played on his face. The young Dark Princess felt her face muscles relax and her jaw wasn't tight this time. Roxas paused a certain scene on the television and looked back at Amaterasu.

"Some guy getting kicked in the face in mid-air?" she asked looking at the blue haired person and a blonde haired person. "Is that why you made me smack my head into the screen?!" Sora asked sitting up slight still holding his head. Sora's older sibling flopped onto the couch that he had been on earlier and Roxas watched the young girl with the strange colored irises let out a small groan in annoyance.

"Not just _some guy_." Roxas said pointing to the frozen screen cap. "He looks just like me!" he yelled out, and covered his mouth as the other two placed on finger on their lips to silence the ecstatic Nobody. "And… and that girl! She looks like Naminé!"

"Yeah if she dyed her hair blue." The other two said looking at one another snickering for a while at the idea. Roxas threw a scowl at the two of them and slumped into the couch next to Amaterasu. In a way it made them related as well, in an adopted sister of his original self. Sora jumped up and placed his face inches away from the screen and pointed frantically to the screen.

"Hey you guys!"

The Nobody and the young girl sighed and looked away, they thought it was one of Sora's weird ideas again. Sora waved his hands in the air and they still didn't pay attention to him at all. Amaterasu closed her eyes trying to catch up on some of the lost sleep while she had come into this world. '_I wonder if I finished eating my toast…_' she asked herself losing herself in wonderful memories of the past. One memory made her stomach flutter and she found herself smiling for a while. Roxas looked at Amaterasu and grinned watching her cheeks turn a faint shade of red, it seemed almost impossible due to her skin color, but something proved otherwise.

"You guys!" Sora cried out in one last ditch effort. Amaterasu jerked herself forward in her chair opening her eyes. Sora flinched watching the irises glow yellow for a spilt second. Roxas leaned forward and looked at him a rather annoyed face. Sora laughed nervously and moved to the side of the television to give the other two a better chance to view what caught his attention.

"Look!" he said pointing to the two noticeable figures in the distance. One was a young teen around Sora's age with noticeable red hair, and another figure was a young male who looked slightly older than Amaterasu with silver hair. In the distance the three figures noticed a silver bundle of fur right by the silver hared teen. "That's what I've been trying to tell you!"

Amaterasu looked at the figure with silver hair and felt something like a needle hit her heart. It was something she could only describe as a feeling of longing-ness towards the individual. She smiled remembering something that seemed like it had only happened yesterday…

_"_ _Chico__, hey!" a girl yelled out close to his house. _

_Riku looked at the scene and noted that she was trying to get her dog back; it had wandered into his yard. She looked around, and stepped onto his lawn, and snatched the dog up. It ended up getting away from her though as it had struggled in her arms, and she couldn't hold on to the animal. _

_Riku was still on his way to house and decided to help the girl, if she still couldn't get her dog. He felt something tug on the lace of his right shoe, he looked down and saw the puppy playfully pull the lace, it growled at the shoe. _

_"_ _Chico__, hey leave that guy alone." The girl said in a firm voice. At that moment the puppy went back to the owner's side. _

_Riku finally let his eyes catch a glimpse of the owner. She had light brown skin, with blue streaks on her dark brown hair, she looked to be Kairi's age. She wore a fan made shirt with the name of a band called 'The Black Mages', with jeans and black tennis shoes with yellow stripes. He was able to make out that she had dark colored eyes. _

_"He's been causing some trouble today…" she said shyly, as she finally looked at Riku, and noticed what he was wearing. She stared down at the ground, and then looked at her puppy. "He peed on some guy today…" she finally picked the puppy up and held him tight. _

_Riku let out a small laugh, "Really?" _

_"Yeah…" she said laughing a little. "Do you live far from here?" she asked. _

_"No, you stepped on my lawn earlier," he pointed out giving her a small hint. _

_She looked back at the lawn she was previously on. The house was pretty small, it had a beige color to it with the window panes in a light tan color. She looked back at Riku and felt a bit more embarrassed, "Oh… He didn't do anything on your lawn, if that's what you're worried about…" she said looking at the puppy in her arms. _

_"How about you, where do you live?" he asked trying to get her a bit more comfortable. "Is it far from here?" _

_"No," she shook her head, "I live a block away from here." She said turning her head in the direction where she lived. In that moment she heard a small growling noise, she looked at her dog, but it wasn't him. _

_"That was me…" Riku said she saw that he had blushed a bit. _

_"You're hungry… what have you been doing all day?" _

_"Relaxing…" he said honestly. _

_"…You're kidding, right?" _

_"Nope," he said giving a big smile. _

_"Well me and my dog we're going to get some sea-salt ice-cream, do you want to go?" she said pulling out a leash from her back pocket, she hooked it up to the dog's collar. _

_"Yeah, all right…" at this point he didn't know what her name was. _

_"That's right, we didn't introduce ourselves…" she outstretched her hand, "My friends call me…"_

"She's daydreaming again…" Roxas said chuckling and thought of some that made him smile for a moment. Sora noticed that she snapped out of her daze and Roxas looked back at Sora for a moment and looked at Kairi, smiling. He knew that Naminé was doing fine with Riku and the little beast, Vieh. He didn't know the other two people with them though, one of them had blue hair and was female and the other looked too much like himself, it gave him the chills every time he remembered that person in the news from the early morning. It was weird, like looking in a mirror of some sort.

"Come on…" Amaterasu said standing up. She was already in the doorway looking out into the hallway. The Alpha Section patrol unit wasn't there to guard them or escort them into the city. They had a day to relax from their duties in the world of Hyllis and they needed some form of entertainment to let their minds wander from the giant eel Nobody that was created in some place called Black Isle. Roxas jumped off of the couch and noticed the Keyblade that was placed on the side of the television suddenly disappeared. A little orb hovered over Amaterasu's side pocket and there the keychain appeared as if nothing happened.

"Are we going to that pedestrian district that we flew over a couple of hours ago?" Sora asked as Roxas followed behind looking around at all the new things his eyes could take. Ever since Sora opened his heart to the other side through Yen Sid's training, Roxas could act as an independent entity from his original self. He moved with Sora pushing the iron door all the way open. Sora's eyes adjusted to the light quickly and he looked around, the smell of the sea-salt air reminded him of his home, and of one special girl he held dear to his heart.

"What about your sunglasses?" Roxas asked looking at Amaterasu: She looked back at him curiously and thought about it for a moment. She pulled out some very thin framed sunglasses and frowned. She didn't like wearing them at all, but she had to now. The Alpha Sections said that it would help with blending in, they were told beforehand about the expanding color of her iris. Sora smiled as his adopted sibling placed the glasses on her and she looked around trying to remain cool and collected for a while.

"I haven't worn any kinds of glasses since I was a kid…" she said softly letting Sora and Roxas led the way into the pedestrian district of Hyllis. She looked around, no doubting experiencing the same smells and sounds around the area.

"You have the cards?" Roxas asked looking at Sora as he walked down the street bearing the Organization XIII uniform. Sora nodded and pulled out several cards that had geometrical shapes on them. The Alpha Sections were ordered to give the cards due to the fact that the Supreme Commander had ordered it so. Several people down the area looked at them with a watchful eye when the cards were thrown into display. Both the blonde Nobody and the young looking dark wielder looked around the crowded streets with a watchful eye, but as always Sora didn't seem to know, or just chose not to

"I'm getting kind of thirsty…" the young dark skinned teen said looking back at the two similar looking individuals. They agreed all that walking through the market places was getting them a bit 'parched'. They passed a newsstand, and Roxas couldn't help but look at the human-eagle hybrid that was right before his blue eyes. He was mesmerized by that fact alone, but the good thing was that the seller had some sunglasses on. Amaterasu pulled the curious Nobody along and Sora paused for a moment pulling out a small looking credit card.

"So kid, you gonna subscribe?" the eagle man asked pulling down his sunglasses for a moment. Sora caught a glimpse of hazel in the iris of the eagle, and the man ruffled his feathers for a moment looking straight at Amaterasu. Sora gave her a signal with his eyes to have her take Roxas to another place around the area. '_Animals can sense the darkness, right?_' he asked her through the mental link they both shared, and she replied with a solid yes before dragging off Roxas to another place. Sora nodded and placed the small credit card into the scanner by the edge of the register. The eagle let out a small shrilly whistle in amazement to all the zeros that the account had stored within it.

"You guys are pretty loaded…" the man said in a slightly jolly tone. He examined Sora again and sensed something in him, it was better being around him than the girl he was with earlier. "So then, the Hyllian Word, for the informed citizen? Or-" Sora said that he would take both issues offered and the man smiled as much as he could. He was making small talk with the boy and Sora did seem interested with what he had to say. "You guys aren't from around here, are you?" and right away the eagle man knew that he wasn't, but he just wanted to make sure. "So then… that sandy place, huh you guys must be from Vector 105." Of course Sora didn't know, but he agreed with the eagle man anyway. "Hey…" the eagle man took off his sunglasses and looked at the button on Sora's coat. "That's the insignia of the Alpha Section… You guys are affiliated with them?"

"Just be careful with them and that girl…" that was all Sora remembered hearing from the bird man after he had left. He really wished that the eagle man hadn't told him that, because now it was starting to spin around in his head. Sora walk along the area following closely behind Amaterasu and his Nobody, the two of them were laughing at a joke Roxas had said. '_I trust her though…_' he thought nodding to himself. He was alarmed though when his older sibling and Roxas had stopped laughing. Sora noticed that they were looking at him with worried expressions on their faces.

"It's okay…" Sora said trying to brush off the questions that would most likely escalate from the other two. Amaterasu stared at him straight in the eyes trying to see what was wrong, but Sora blocked out the connection before it could even begin. Roxas frowned placing his hands on his head. '_Sora doesn't act like this most often, something's starting to bug him…_' his Nobody thought looking up at the afternoon sky, it was getting a bit warm in the pedestrian area with the sun over their heads now. Amaterasu stopped short and looked up, they had walked a bit far away from the Alpha Section HQ and they now came across a place called the 'Akuda Bar' with the 'k' backwards.

"Wait Ammi, we can't go in there." Sora and Roxas said quickly as Amaterasu's foot crossed the open entrance towards the bar. She looked back at them and pouted, all that walking with their coats made her thirsty. "Yeah, we're thirsty too…" Roxas said quickly. "But we just can't go waltzing into a bar!" he said waving his arms madly. Amaterasu spoke once more stating that she was thirsty. "It's not like this is the only place we've seen that has drinks!"

"I think it is, Roxas…" Sora said poking him slightly in the shoulder. "But we haven't tried that one place… that eagle guy said something about that place having lots of things. I think her name was Nora or something…" Sora said noticing that Amaterasu looked up at the sign of the bar and sighed. With that the three of them left the entrance of the Akuda Bar and headed back into the streets of the civilian district. The Bartender of the establishment known as 'Akuda Bar' by the name of Moe, walked out into the streets, he had heard a commotion, and he managed to catch a glimpse of two figures in black robes, and another teenager with blonde hair and baggy pants with a white and black checkered outfit.

"Kids these days…" the bull humanoid muttered and snorted in disapproval through his nose, and walked back inside his business place.

Nora was a young woman around the age of twenty or so with a bandana on her head. She looked very warm and inviting at that shop of hers, and it was just outside the restricted area that the Alpha Sections had blocked off a couple of days ago. She looked at the strange three newcomers and smiled giving them her warm hospitality. She pressed something that was on her ear and smiled hearing the news that buzzed into the little earpiece:

"_They're going your way then Nora_…" a familiar voice said and clicked off, the little earpiece. It was craftily made to look like a stylish earring and it worked, no one suspected a thing at all.

**With Terra and the others **

Terra was tossing and turning in his sleep and Abedo was getting tried of hearing the soft moans and groans that the original was starting to give off. '_What kind of dream is he having anyway? It sounds like they're killing him or something…_' he thought and looked up at the open doorway. He saw the former Memory Witch sitting by the stove humming something that played on the radio, and he smiled. He loved watching her be happy and he wouldn't change that one moment for anything n the world. Ames stopped humming and smiled at Abedo, and he felt a blush crept up. His old mood kicked back in and he looked away trying to block out any other emotion or than guilt.

"What the hell is he dreaming about…?" he asked hearing Ames walk into the room. She bent down slightly and looked at the pained expression on the Keyblade Wielders face. Ames placed a gentle hand on his forehead and smiled sadly, withdrawing her hand and inclosing it with her other hand. The young replica looked at her hands for a moment noticing that they were curled up into little fists. " Ames?" he called out again. She blinked for a moment, and he was glad to the see the life spring back into her gentle blue eyes:

"You like dozing off, don't you." He chuckled and watched her smile a bit. "So are you going out into the district?" he asked noticing that the Memory Witch was looking out the window. It had taken all night and parts of the morning to reach the area on their little makeshift boat, and it had even sprung a leak when it was 300 meters away from the shore of the pedestrian area. Abedo had remembered throughout that whole time Ames had been scribbling away in her sketch pad. From memory he knew that her strokes, when she drew, were short and slow, but that time it was slightly long and faster, that meant she had been writing something. '_But what…?_' he asked himself before Ames caught him staring at her again.

"I was writing a letter to His Majesty…" she said softly walking away from the room. Terra had finally gone into a peaceful sleep at this point. Abedo pushed himself up from the wooden chair and smiled at Terra. Ames came back in before he had a chance to walk out of the light tan colored room. She gave him a sheet of paper and looked at it, and then up at her. She nudged him forward with her head and Abedo's blue eyes looked back at Terra and laughed. "I know he's going to kill me, but he needs a good laugh when he wakes up," the Memory Witch said softly running a hand through her hair and ruffling it up a bit.

"This is kind of disturbing to wake up to though…" he said chuckling at the amusing picture. In the back of his head he knew that after yelling Terra would see the humor in it sooner or later. He placed the small sheet of paper by the pillow and looked at him with some envy. '_You have a lot of people that care about you, Terra. You'd better not forget that…_' the young replica thought while walking away with Ames, out the tan colored room. The two of them made it through the light colored kitchen and past the pastel colored living room, and finally they walked out of the wooden door that led to the outside world of Hyllis. Abedo was curious as to why Ames had written to King Mickey, he felt that those days were over, but he had guessed wrong.

The two of them walked side by side in normal clothing, at least by Hyllian standards. Ames had said something along the lines of 'wandering on a sunny afternoon' and Abedo had agreed. The Memory Witch laughed and they continued walking, apparently she had been referring to something else that the replica didn't know about. Music was playing around the establishments of food and merchants each trying to get customers to but their items because they offered more selection that their competitors. The two individuals stopped for a moment hearing something that didn't seem machine recorded and looked around the area through the crowds of civilians. The young looking silver haired Memory Witch gave a big smile that made Abedo wonder why she would be so happy to hear the sounds of violins.

In the distance three figures were walking through the area in strange royal clothing that made more than half of the Hyllians around them gawk and stare, they had never seen anything like it at all. A couple of people found it funny watching a duck like creature waddle through the streets of Hyllis. A couple of people gapped at the tall canine creature that seemingly towered over most of the other people that were around regular height. Then, right there in the middle was mouse that was guarded by the two figures at this left and right hand side. He held a small piece of paper in his hand, folded halfway, the creases on there looked worn out, as if the mouse had read the paper more than twenty times. The mouse king could still not comprehend it all, the sudden burst of information still didn't settle in his head.

'_What is she planning with this…_?' he asked himself walking through the streets of Hyllian. He didn't even recognize the area anymore, it had been decades since he walked through the streets of this world, and everything seemed to change right before his very eyes. Donald Duck walked with him alongside Goofy as they kept their eyes peeled out for the young 20ish looking Memory Witch. '_I wonder if she's going to have Terra with her,_' he pondered on that for a moment. If she did in fact have Terra with her, then things could run smoothly, he only hoped that she did. After all they all were at one point friends, but that was a long time ago, and the King knew that with age came forgetfulness. True, there were some things he forgot, but that was why he decided to come here today, to try and get his memories jumping again.

The substance of the letter was simple enough to follow, but what was addressed in the later paragraphs was hard to swallow for the aging king. He found himself at his desk that night throwing the paper hastily to the desk, and hand his chin rest on his fists, and then without warning her found himself unintentionally grabbing the paper once more to re-read the issues addressed at hand. He knew that she was crafty, but to be going so far as to do _that_ was something entirely different. He had known the Memory Witch for some time, keeping her existence hidden from Sora and his group. She was known to keep things to herself, but with the King that was a whole different matter. The King reflected on his first meeting with her, shortly after he had come into Radiant Garden.

_"My name is __Ames__… __Ames__ Diaz." A young girl around the age of 15 or so said in a very pleasant voice. A man with round glasses and a white lab coat stood beside the girl he seemed very proud with the young girl. King Mickey looked up and noticed the man with a dark tinted scarf, it was Ansem the Wise of __Radiant_ _Garden__. The most remarkable feature about him were the pair of amber eyes, they seemed to be a bit more soft since the last time King Mickey had paid a visit to his old and dear friend. The girl was ordered to sit down beside the king, and the man in the whit lab coat was ordered to wait outside with another man by the name of Grimoire and someone else by the name of __Lucrecia Crescent__. King Mickey offered a hand to her, and she took it shaking his hand warmly. King Ansem seemed pleased for some reason. _

_The young girl had light blue eyes with brown colored skin, and silver colored hair. For some reason he could've sworn that he had seen her somewhere before, but the person that popped into his mind was completely different, but the similarities were there. The young girl smiled at Ansem the Wise waiting for him to formally introduce her a bit more to the mouse king. Ansem the Wise spoke more elaborating on the person before them known as __Ames__ Diaz. He spoke with truth saying that she was in fact human to an extent, and when he paused she demonstrated her ability, startling King Mickey a bit seeing another person right before his very eyes. The girl looked like another young child he had seen days before. _

_"They are in fact almost one in the same, my friend." Ansem the Wise said holding out two popsicles in his hand for his guests to enjoy. Ames took it for a moment and looked at it, letting herself bring it close to her face. She breathed in through her nose trying to see if it had a scent, and she placed it in her mouth. King Mickey watched __Ames__ for a moment before nibbling on his sea-salt ice-cream popsicle. "This is what happens when the heart is released and it forms the Heartless and Nobody of that person. When that person's Nobody is destroyed the body ceases to exist, and with that that dying Nobody leaves behind the energy that it had within it. If the energy within it is strong enough it can create a human replica, or a creature at best if it is not that strong enough. _

_King Mickey looked at __Ames__, and gave a small look of disapproval to Ansem the Wise. He understood why his good friend the mouse king seemed upset. He explained that the experiment had been carried out before the kind and benevolent king of __Disney_ _Castle__ had graced their homeland. Ames sunk into her chair looking down, she felt responsible for the King's reaction and frowned. King Mickey looked at the young girl, back to the original self with silver hair, and he tried his best to smile for the young girl. _

_"You are not going to tell the girl?" King Mickey asked as __Ames__ seemed to be preoccupied with something that took her mind away from the conversation. __Ames__ placed her pencil down and frowned, crumpling the paper in disappointment. The older speakers stopped and looked at the young girl with some curiosity. She tried to get them back to their topic, their eyes were burning holes into the paper she had crumpled in frustration and again the young girl tried to get them off of that topic. _

_"I know she doesn't know how to draw…" __Ames__ said softly taking back the small ball of smashed paper. "That's why I want to learn." She said smiling. "Professor Grimoire and Ms. Crescent said it's better for me to get acquainted with her instead of them answering my questions about her, but Professor Hojo thinks that's not a good idea to do. He says something about it damaging my mind. He's really proud of this for some reason." She said looking at the poorly drawn mouse head on the white sheet of paper. "Saying something about this being better than that boy, Xehanort…" she said it so innocently, but still she was afraid of the look that Ansem the Wise had on his face. _

_"I know she met him… I wanted them too. He needs a friend like her… I really hope you aren't mad, sir." She said softly her blue eyes tried to get the older pair of amber eyes to soften a bit. "You said so yourself, he needs a good person to keep his mind busy." _

_"She's just a child!" Ansem said slamming his fist down. "She can't handle that. Especially with all that experimenting. __Ames__ you know better than that, we've taught you better than that." He said trying to regain his composure. He didn't want his good friend to remember him yelling at a small child. _

_"True…" she said softly biting her lip for a moment. "I guess I'll have to fix that then. Sorry your highness." Ames stood up, wearing a simple plain black dress and bowed her head towards the two older individuals in the room. "I'll be back in a while. It was very nice meeting you your Majesty!" she said running out the door._

"There, that's the man!" Donald quacked loudly interrupting King Mickey, shattering his glimpse into the past. There was a man playing the violin, a street performer with another person playing the cello. Goofy looked back down at the king and then to the performers. He wanted to say something but waited for a while. King Mickey sighed in relief, he was glad they had found the cellist and the violinist.

'…They'll end up playing The Burdened, Sky-Blue Eyes, and Scars of Friendship together. I will already be there, and so I'll end up waiting for you to appear your Majesty. Hopefully you can enjoy the three peaceful movements before we talk…'

It was something that had been written within the letter that was addressed to King Mickey. Goofy was amazed at how down to the dot her description had been on their meeting, and he smiled. His Majesty knew that nothing bad would happen today for that one soul prediction she made to them for today seemed to hold true. There in the distance by a bench a young silver haired woman was nibbling away some strange orange colored popsicle, chatting away with a young teen that looks like someone that King Mickey once knew.

In the distance a young man woke up with the words 'Old man boob grabbing Xehanort' written in red ink with little small chibi like figures of himself being touched by a strange looking man. Terra felt his eye twitch in rage and her stormed out of his room to find the culprit.

"This isn't funny…" he looked around and noticed that the two people he was going to blame were already gone. Terra looked around the rooms but he couldn't find those two people he needed to yell at. Terra sighed and sat on the couch, sprawled out lazy in his green colored boxers. He made a small face at the little drawing he had in his hand, but found himself laughing for some reason. "They always did say I looked like a girl from behind…" he couldn't help but laugh.

Terra decided to walk back to his room to go and get washed and dressed up. He moved without difficulty at first, feeling more than happy for some reason, but something got him to start thinking. A voice he had not heard in some time echoed through his mind and he looked around. He noticed his vision getting hazy, his eyes were growing heavy. He shook his head again and tried to move forward but his legs locked. '_What?!_' he felt a heavy pressure sit against his heart, and he tried to breathe in, but he couldn't get air into his lungs. '_Not now… Go away!_' he closed his eyes gritting his teeth tightly, he hadn't felt this pain in a while.

"Get out of my heart… Go away!" he yelled, feeling his legs grow weak. His knees slammed on to the wooden floor, and he lurched forward, the pain was getting worse. He wanted to call out to his friends, but he remembered they weren't there. '_I'm alone…_' Terra thought closing his eyes trying hard not to yell out in pain. '_Aqua… Ventus…_' he thought as the pressure increased. '_Help…_' he looked at the entrance of the doorway. For a spilt second he saw someone walk away from the doorway. Squinting for a moment his blue eyes made contact with the figure. '_That's not… Not it's not her, and it's definitely no Xejicka… who…?_' he closed his eyes for the last time before falling into infinite darkness.

**With Jade and the others **

"What the…?" Jade dodged a hot laser beam from the black and white tinted eel. She spun around using her Daï-jo stick for balance. Things had happened so fast. One minute she was taking a picture of the earth worm and the next thing a huge looking eel turns out to be part of the whole scene. It wasn't just an ordinary eel, oh no, it just happened to be a creature called a Nobody as well. Everyone except for Pey'j and her didn't know what it was, but the young kids with Keyblades knew that the monster was right off the bat. Aqua yelled something out and time seemed to stop for that spilt second.

"Riku… Riku, _no_!" she yelled out. The silver haired teen felt his knees buckle, a figure was chuckling in the back of his head, he had finally come out of hiding. '_Found you, boy._' The voice said colliding with his thoughts. The menacing silver furred wolf stopped in its vicious attack and ran hastily towards his master's side. It whimpered watching Riku's turquoise eyes disappear for a moment as he closed his eyes briefly. "Wake up… Riku, hey snap out of it!" the hound said, without moving his mouth. Aqua placed a Reflectgun around the boy and his dog, and the others continued to fight in hopes of getting the creature to calm down.

"It's not use, we'll have to kill it!" Pey'j yelled pulling out a favored wrench of his. Jade concentrated some energy into her weapon, and Kairi did the same. Naminé was giving up some of her own strength to aid Kairi in this fight, they were after all fighting as one. Aqua tried to swing at the creature with Rumbling Rose, but the creature evaded it, flying through the air like it would if it could swim in water. Ventus picked up Diamond Dust once more and ran through the air giving a loud shout as he brought his Keyblade down. The eel like Nobody was brought out of hiding now, as it had taken shelter in the nearby holes it had made. Pey'j threw his wrench, but the creature didn't seem fazed by it, its defenses were too high for the wrench.

Aqua twirled Ventus into the air using a simple Aero spell with her Keyblade. The blonde haired Keyblade wielder was spun into the air, and his preferred weapon of choice twirled around with him. He was getting ready to use a Firaga spell, as the Keyblade rotated around him in a similar fashion as a moon would to a planet. The giant eel soar through the air getting ready to color its razor sharp teeth crimson. Ventus grabbed the Keyblade and pretended to pull a trigger on the hand guard of the weapon. He smirked:

"Fire…" he said with an impish grin, and the eyes of the eel reflected back the flames the Firaga spell. Jade took that moment to launch herself into the air as high as she could, and with a mighty cry she let out the power that had been suppressed within her Daï-jo, and a flash of red and yellow orbs danced around, hitting the creature. The Nobody let out a small cry in pain and fell limp to the floor. Kairi took that chance to hit the creature with her newly acquired Fire spell, and the creature ceased to move. It slowly began to fade away, clumps of white strands and black strands began to disperse into the air, back to where ever it came from.

"Riku… hey Riku…" Vieh muttered softly, the barrier around them was beginning to crack. The hound felt Riku's hand lightly brush against his curved horn. Riku's breathing became slightly heavier than normal, and he opened his eyes slowly. The wielder of Way to Dawn gave a small smile that alarmed the wolf looking creature and the creature in turn licked his cheek out of worriment. "Riku, come on don't play around…" the hound instructed gingerly looking at the pained expression written clearly on the Keyblade wielders face. He watched as Kairi fell to the floor on her knees beside Riku, her Keyblade was planted firmly into the ground for support, she looked exhausted, as did everyone else around them.

"Hey come on Riku, wake up!" she pleaded rubbing her eyes, her face was covered in dirt and sweat from the battle. Kairi's hand moved gingerly over to his cheek, and she lightly tapped him for a moment trying to get him to wake him up. Naminé's voice became present for a spilt second, though Pey'j and Jade didn't hear the name muttered out by the other female voice. Aqua and Ven heard it loud and clear and looked at one another with confused faces, but they would ask the young Princess of Heart later once Riku woke up. Kairi drew her hand back, he wasn't waking up and it made her worry since his breathing was a bit shallow. '_In a deep state of sleep?_' she asked herself and Naminé just replied with a simple 'I don't know' statement.

"Is he… is he going to…?" Jade didn't know what to say, she was used to experiencing those blackouts but she had never seen one quiet like Riku's at all, it seemed as though something was trying to get into him, and he had fought back. She knew that somehow he had won, but that wasn't the victory she was expecting at all. '_I hope he's all right… Come on Riku, wake up!_' she thought pleading that somehow the fallen silver haired teen would hear her thoughts and then suddenly wake up.

"We can't stay here…" Ven said softly gripping Aqua's shoulder and whispered into her ear. "I don't want to stay here too long…" he said softly looking back down at Riku and Kairi for a moment. Vieh had reverted back to his smaller form and Aqua had him in her arms, gently trying to comfort the silver bundle of fur. Aqua nodded and Pey'j agreed it was best for them to go back.

"I'm sure Mr. De Castellac will be understanding about the whole situation…" Jade said softly as Ven and Pey'j picked up Riku and carried him out of the area. They moved through the mine up to the topper levels, going back the way they came from. They each prayed in their own ways that nothing would happen to them. Vieh sniffed the air as he was carried in Aqua's arms and looked around trying to see if anything stalked them by the shadows. He growled for a moment alerting the others around him and they looked around. They were close to the broken ladder, and something had to go and make their escape almost bittersweet.

"I guess it was nothing…" he said softly, using his mouth for the first time. Everyone was stunned for a moment watching his lips move for the first time. Kairi blinked for a moment, forgetting that her mouth was ajar and Aqua blinked a bit looking at the silver haired puppy. Jade titled her head wondering why on earth the pup decided to use its mouth now. "Now there is something…" he said softly his ears moved from side to side picking up noise too faint for the human ears.

"Let the fun begin…" Vieh said softly as something cracked through the wooden floors of the mine. Jade pulled out her Daï-jo and twirled it around her, and the other conscious teens pulled out their Keyblades. More strange looked Heartless and mutated Voraxes appeared on sight.

"Just for humor that thing we saw earlier on the roof wasn't a beaver, it was a two-legged otter…" Jade said looking back at Kairi, the looks on her face was priceless.

**With ****Ames**** and the King **

"You found me Your Majesty…" Ames said giving a curtsey to the mouse king, and to his two royal friends, Donald Duck and Goofy. "It's nice meeting you Donald Duck, and George Geef Goof." She said, letting a smile grace her lips as she said Goofy's last name. Abedo bowed in his own manner, not staying too far behind of Ames, and he looked up at the duck and the tall clumsy soldier. Someone cleared their throat in the distance and both the silver haired girl, and the replica looked up, peering behind Goofy. A slightly shorter related member of Goofy's family stepped forward and bowed in his own way, he looked to be about in his teenage years. The Memory Witch was unfamiliar with this individual and looked at Goofy for a moment.

Abedo beat her to the punch though with a simple guess:

"He's his son…" the replica said softly. King Mickey knew though that this wasn't the person he had known during his younger years, and felt a bit disappointed. '_She tricked me…_' he thought and sighed for a moment. For some odd reason the replica couldn't help but look the mouse king when he sighed, he had an odd feeling that sigh was directed at him.

"Max G-" his father cleared his throat and Max groaned rolling his eyes. "_Maximilian_ Goof…" he said blushing in embarrassment and Ames tried hard not to laugh at the embarrassment the young boy felt.

"Let's get down to business then, shall we?" King Mickey led the way past the crowds of several Hyllians, most people gawked and stared at the crowd of strangers walking past them, they were all different species and in color at this point. "Are you enjoying your stay here in Hyllis, Ames Diaz?" he asked walking straight ahead.

"For the moment, yes King Mickey." She said humming a simple tune, she felt like a small child again, it had been years since she had seen the king, but they had kept in touch thanks to the letters they sent each other back and forth. "Terra's here though…" the Memory Witch said getting King Mickey to stop in his tracks. "He's back at the hotel by the Akuda Bar, which is not that far from here." Ames instructed and the King looked back at her with a curious eye. "It's written on your face, your Majesty." She said giving a cheerful smile.

"The one you see before you, his name is Abedo… We haven't given him a last name though…" she said looking back at Abedo. Goofy's son and the replica were lost in some sort of topic, no doubt related to things their age. "History repeated itself again when Sora and Amaterasu entered Castle Oblivion. He still doesn't know that he had been there once before, and it's probably better that he doesn't for now…"

"For now?" Goofy and Donald asked looking at the Memory Witch Confused for a moment. She nodded and told them that she would explain at a later date. The young looking Memory Witch said something along the lines that Terra shouldn't be trusted being left alone in the house.

They all walked through the streets, some of the people stepped back creating a sort of manmade pathway out of the area, and others just stared like last time. Ames walked forward showing the King and his subjects the way, while Abedo walked at her side, he felt is was his duty to protect her to the fullest when Terra couldn't. He felt something troubling his mind for a while, something didn't seem right back at the hotel, and he had wanted to tell Ames something that had been bothering him for some time, but he didn't want to ruin the happiness she was experiencing right now.

' _Ames__… are you sure it was right to leave him alone?_' she could hear his voice break clear into her thoughts. For some reason in her mind she could see ripples begin to form and she looked down at the ground in reality as she walked. '_We'll talk about this later, okay, Abedo?_' she responded, the replica hearing her voice enter his thoughts without any interruption.

**With Sora and the others **

The young brunette teen sat down overlooking the crowds from the rooftop enjoying the orange flavored sherbet that Amaterasu had purchased for him and for Roxas as well. Roxas stood beside Amaterasu on the edge of the rooftop looking at the people below, they all seemed noticeable, some of the people weren't even as small as ants, that was because the roofs in the pedestrian district aren't that high at all, but still it was hard to see the people who were up on the roof because the sun would blind you for a moment. Amaterasu had felt something, like a needle in her heart a couple of minutes ago, and the pain had ceased for a while.

"I hope he's okay…" she muttered to herself softly before stuffing her mouth again with orange ice-cream. Roxas glanced back at her in confusion and Sora looked down at the tip of his shoe.

"Riku… and Kairi…" he said swinging his leg unintentionally, it was just a bad habit he picked up when he was nervous. Sora felt awkward though because he hadn't thought of those two people in such a long time, they were pushed back far into his mind, and it pained him to remember he had left them back in Sunset Horizons about almost a year ago. The young wielder of Kingdom Key remembered that days ago he had felt a presence that was similar to the two people he left behind, and it made him feel at ease for a while. "I hope they're okay…" he hoped silently, biting a piece of his ice-cream.

"I'm sure they're fine… they've Naminé with them…" Roxas added, trying to ease his original self.

"Riku though is what worries me the most," the young dark skinned wielder said looking up at the sky, dusk was starting to set in, it had been a couple of hours since they had wandered about the area. "I worry about him a lot…" she answered truthfully, finally sitting down on the edge right next to her 'brother'. Sora looked back at her and gave her right hand a gentle squeeze of reassurance.

"Hey wait… you guys never told me what was up with the two wedding rings." Roxas butted in, he didn't mean to ruin the brother and sister moment, but the rings were the object of his curiosity. Sora messed with Ammi's hair and watched her scowl and she fixed her hair with her right hand, the ring glinted with the setting sun that was placed in the distance.

"We meet these two people…" Sora began looking off into the distance. "They had fallen in love, so much, that they decided to go and get married." He said looking back at Roxas for a moment before he continued. "With the love they had in their hearts, they could tame the darkness because the darkness would bow down to the light within each of them. They were granted the powers of the Keyblade, but in the end the Keyblades brought destruction upon them both… in the end not even their love could save them…"

"That's a sad story…" Roxas added, he found himself sitting beside Sora. "But what do the rings have to do with them?" he asked.

"The young man who we defeated asked us, like a dying wish, to wear them as a reminder of the happiness we took away…" Amaterasu said softly looking at her right hand.

**A/N:** You know what to do **_one_** review please!

**Xejicka: **Thanks Xejicka for the review buddy! It really made my day, for some reason this chapter came out a bit too serious for my liking, and I really should move out of BG&E soon too, I don't want them staying in that world for too long, but we haven't even gotten into the good parts yet! 

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Beyond Good and Evil, Kingdom Hearts series, or the songs listed within the story! I do own Amaterasu, Abedo's concept and Vieh for the most part.


	8. VIII

**A/N:** Thank once again for the reads and reviews!

**Xejicka:** Thanks buddy! Sorry it took so long for the next chapter, but it's long!

**Anyway on with the story!**

**Chapter 8: Poena de similis fortuna (**Aching pains of connected fates)

"Where am I?" Riku asked looking around the strange land. Snow was falling down at slow rate, and when he breathed out he could see his breath, but the strange thing was that he didn't feel cold, this place was at least around 50 degrees if he could see his breath. His turquoise eyes looked around the area, but all he saw before him was the white snow lightly falling down to the earth that was covered in the same soft, but cold, snow. He looked in the distance to try and see buildings, but he found none, he was alone in this strange white covered land.

"How do I get into this anyway…?" he asked himself walking through the area, there were snowy hills, and patches of earth that had yet to be covered by snow. '_So it's been snowing for a little while…_' he thought to himself.

"Riku!" someone called out in the distance. He turned around but again he was met with falling snow. The person called out his name again, but it seemed to be far away this time around. He let it go and continued to walk.

"Maybe if I go up that hill…" he thought running forward, his breath clearly visible before his eyes.

The sound of feet shuffling through the snow caught his attention and he looked up at the snowy hill top. A man roughly around the age of twenty or so was there overlooking the area with blue colored eyes. Riku stopped at the foot of the hill and exhaled silently to himself, his cloud of breath covered his view of the man for a while. Riku noticed that he was wearing something that appeared to be a _hakama_. The man had distinct dark brown hair, and a dark colored shirt with red straps in a 'V' shape running down. The man turned around and Riku got a better look at him.

He had a belt tied to the strange looking pants, in the middle, for what appeared to be a belt buckle, it was a strange Heartless like insignia colored in gold. The man wore a long black wristband on his right arm. Riku opened his mouth to speak, but found his voice had left him, all that came out was his breath.

The man on the other hand heard his words, not by his ear catching the sound, no, but by his mind alone. He heard Riku's questions and smiled slightly looking at the turquoise eyed teenager.

"Terra… And yours?"

The silver haired teen felt his eyes widen a bit hearing the voice in his head. He seemed very familiar for some reason, but he couldn't remember from where. Riku tried to speak once more, but all he had was warm breath meeting the cold atmosphere.

"Riku Fonovi…"

Terra heard him speak again and smiled. Soon before long Riku joined him on top of the hill and the young teen felt a frown form on his lips, there was nothing but snow in sight. Terra on the other hand seemed to enjoy watching the snow fall, he failed to brush himself off, he loved the snow that much, going so far as to letting stay in his hair. Riku shook his head letting the snow fall to the ground and looked up at the sky strange tinges of black, grey, white and light blue colored the sky for miles and miles.

"What are you doing here?"

Riku looked up at Terra and titled his head. He responded saying that he didn't now how he got here in the first place and Terra placed his fingertips on his forehead, lost in thought, the same way Squall did when he was trying to think of an answer. Riku thought about the others back at Radiant Garden and looked off into the distance trying to think of them and their smiling faces. The silver haired teen sighed and found himself sitting down on the snowy hilltop, he still didn't feel cold at all. 

"Wait, what about…?! We were fighting a battle and- …Don't tell me I knocked out!?"

Riku remembered fighting a battle not that long ago, and now he was far away from the whole scene. Terra could hear the frantic cutoffs of speech, and it was starting to give him a headache, his words were spilling over in Terra's head and he tried to push them back with reassuring words but that was to no avail.

"Can you be quiet for a minute at least?"

Riku stopped speaking for a moment and looked up at Terra. The young man sighed in relief and sat down next to him, he stared off into the distance trying to think of something the two could talk about. '_There's a reason why he was brought here…_' Terra thought closing his mind away from Riku's. He thought for a moment, and found himself thinking back to when he was a child, they had taught him the meaning of his name back in kindergarten. '_Earth…_' he thought and then thought about Riku's name for a moment. '_Land…_' Terra felt himself grinning from ear to ear.

"That's why you're here…"

Riku looked up at Terra puzzled a bit and open his mouth to speak for a second but Terra cut him off.

"You and I, we both share the same fate…"

**With Jade and the others **

"Freedom!" Ventus yelled falling down on the ground with a loud thud. He kissed the green grass that was around him and closed his eyes in content, with a large smile on his face. Aqua slumped beside him looking up at the sky from the clearing in the distance. The sky was giving off the time of twilight, and she looked around, Mr. De Castellac's black car was still there, but the man with the sunglasses was inside the hovercraft, sleeping.

Kairi fell to her knees, and wiped the sweat from her face. She dismissed her Keyblade and supported her upper body with both of her hands on the ground. Jade watched as Vieh moved Riku with caution across the area. Pey'j followed the silver colored wolf like creature to the hovercraft that belonged to him. It had been exactly a week and several days since they had started on that journey to find the Domz creature. The Heartless known as Stealth Sneak was nothing compared to the Domz Nobody creature.

"It'll take a while before we can leave." Pey'j said leaving Riku and Vieh inside the hovercraft. "A week… seven whole days in this mine, sweet Jesus our pay better be worth this!"

Jade and the others walked over to the man in the black hovercraft and she lightly tapped on the window, startling the man as he woke up half in fright. He looked up through the tinted windows and opened the car door. He told them to get in for a moment, and off they went into the air. Aqua looked at the upholstery of the car and noticed that it was made out of a tan colored leather. Ven noticed that the black outer part of the hovercraft started to fall, and lo and behold it became a taxi.

"There is no Mr. De Castellac…" the man said removing his black moustache and sunglasses. He wore an orange colored turtle neck and dark colored pants. "My name is Hahn. Congratulations to all of you. You have successfully completed your situation test."

"Situation test?" the others asked in confusion.

Hahn began to explain, as he drove over Black Isle that he worked for a group called the IRIS Network. To Jade and the rest of the Hyllians the IRIS Network was seen as a rebel faction organization, liars in the face of the Alpha Sections. Now with the information that this man was giving them things seemed to collide.

"But the Alpha Sections…" Ven and Jade began, but it didn't seem to go through to Hahn.

"Yes… at the time the Alpha Sections seemed like a gift…" the man said softly as he passed a grassy hilltop. "At the current time we were overwhelmed by the Domz attacks and we needed them. They kidnap ten people for one person that they save." He said softly looking back at everyone in the car.

"I just really want to find out the truth to all of this." Jade responded. Pey'j and the others remained silent on the whole outcome. Pey'j for one didn't trust the Alpha Sections right off the bat, and neither did Aqua nor Kairi, just call it women's intuition. Ven on the other hand seemed a bit too welcoming to the idea, but he understood now that Pey'j's speculations came into light. Jade had time to think about it.

Hahn spoke more and he provided some details for all of them to follow. He instructed all of them to go to the Akuda Bar and look for a man by the name of Peepers. They all looked at one another confused and then back to Hahn. The cab began to hover down slowly as it made its last rounds and touched the ground, back to where they had entered. Aqua and the others looked through the tinted rear windows to see if someone they knew was approaching the vehicle, they didn't see either one of the silver beings.

"I hope he's all right…" Aqua muttered and Ven was able to catch it. He placed a gentle hand on her shoulder and looked back at the others. Jade felt guilty about what happened and expressed several apologies to every one of them. Hahn apologized after hearing what had happened since he had asked Kairi and Jade to elaborate on the situation at hand.

"If he's anything like _him_ he'll be fine." Ven said looking at the small smile on Aqua's face.

"That's what worries me…" she admitted truthfully. "I can feel it in your heart too, Nusvext…" Aqua couldn't help but grin letting the name fall on her lips.

"Well first thing's first…" Kairi couldn't help but cut the small silence as everyone left the cab. "We've got to look for this Peepers person." Everyone agreed with her.

They watched as the black and yellow checkered hovering taxi took flight once more and circled about there are for a moment or two. Hahn rolled down the black tinted window on his side and gave something to the twenty year old female. Jade took the small card, and a 3,000 unit transaction took place. Pey'j was glad that at least they received their pay, but Riku's situation made the money look like an object of little valor at this point. All eyes were on Vieh as he stepped out of the hovercraft and his eyes were downcast as he trudged through the grass area outside the mine. His claws _clicked_ and _ticked_ with each step he took on the wooden bridge.

Kairi ran forward and hugged the hound with all her might. Vieh let out a whimper and howled at the emotional pain of his master's mental downfall. Vieh's mind raced with thoughts connected to Riku's. The small hound was in fact a key to the lost memories that were tied to a young girl by the name of Amaterasu. He had met her once, back when Riku was trapped in the darkness. She smelled of flowers, the scent had overpowered the stench of the Heartless she controlled. His thoughts were moving quickly, from the first day Riku met her to the last time, when they were within the realm of Kingdom Hearts, as he and himself were turned away by the light and were brought back to the soil of a kingdom known as Sunset Horizons.

'_So many things… I have to try and find her for Riku's sake…_' he thought as Kairi continued to hug him. She cared for Riku's well being, they were after all friends. He was sad though, because he couldn't help Kairi recover the certain memories of a boy named Sora. Vieh nuzzled against Kairi's cheek and licked it in a remorseful fashion. '_I feel so useless…_' he thought and looked up at the sky. Riku's thoughts were intertwining with his at this point. '_She's with Sora, I know she is…_' he thought, this time these thoughts were his own. He wasn't able to find either one of their scents, it seemed impossible at this point; they had been masked in something so foul that he wouldn't dare look for them right now.

"Right now… we have to look for Peepers…" Vieh muttered not daring to open his mouth. He could speak without the help of his lips. "That's what you said, right Kairi?" the young Princess of Heart nodded.

'_Don't worry Kairi… I'm sure Riku will be fine. He's dealt with worse things than this._' Naminé responded and left Kairi's mind at ease for a while. '_For right now we have to focus on helping this world. That's what Riku would want, you know that._' Naminé's words held truth to some degree. '_I'll be strong…_' Kairi thought and placed Vieh down on the ground.

Aqua and Ven stood off into the distance looking at the water that surrounded the mine their minds were connected in way reminiscent to two other certain people far off into the area.

"_I don't know… but I feel like we should've warned those two…_" Aqua's voice held some guilt, one that Ventus knew all too well. He tried to tell her that it wasn't her fault.

"_If anything it's my fault…_" he responded looking up at the sky. They were regaining their breaths and letting their minds settle down for a while. Something that bothered the two of them was that one individual by the name of 'Jade'. They didn't know if they were the only ones that heard the other name, but it didn't matter. They knew that somehow the name 'Shauni' was connected in some way to the twenty year old Jade.

"_…I'm sorry I wasn't there to help much back then…_" Aqua began and Ven knew at that point what she was getting at.

"_None of that was your fault…_" Ven responded taking her hand in his as a gesture of reassurance. "_We should probably get going though…_" Aqua nodded and broke the link off with Ven and walked back to the hovercraft. Kairi and Vieh were no where to be seen and it could only mean that they were inside the hovercraft with Riku.

**Terra and Riku **

"…I don't understand…"

Riku only spoke the truth at this point as the snow was still falling. Did the snow reflect both of their minds at this point? Were they just like nature being mellow and collected at some points, letting things go naturally, or did this reflect their past selves when things seemed so simple? That was the only thing that seemed to go through Riku's mind. He was surprised that Terra wasn't able to hear his thoughts. '_Maybe he's blocking me out, or maybe I'm blocking him out…_' he thought to himself.

Terra on the other hand was trying hard to hide the smirk that was slowly starting to show. He placed a hand on his neck and teased up the longer part of his hair for a moment. '_He's still so young…_' he thought and looked up at the sky. It was starting to clear up in an area far away. '_I wonder what Ven's doing…? I hope he's taking care of Aqua…_' a lot of things plagued his mind. It pained him to know that he wasn't there physically for his friends, and emotionally as well. '_But, I've got to take care of Abedo and Xejicka, and _ _Ames__ too…_' he knew that much to be true.

"What's wrong, Terra?"

Terra looked down at the young Keyblade wielder and shook his head:

"Don't worry about it, Riku. But like I said before, whether you want to understand this or not, we're connected you and me… The Memory Witch and number Eight were right…"

"But… I didn't take Kingdom Key… How can we be connected?"

"All fates are sealed…"

"It still makes no sense… someone, who is still important to me, told me that even if fate was set in stone we should try and change it… no matter how much it takes. She promised me that we'd find a way to change fate…"

"What I mean is the fate of a Keyblade wielder, our fate depends on our actions, and the actions past Keyblade wielders have taken… I don't know if that helps you or not, but that person. She must've wanted you to denounce the Keyblade then…"

"What?!"

"That's the only way a Keyblade wielder can change their fate…"

To Riku it made no sense. He couldn't remember the girl that much other than he knew he felt something strong whenever he tried to commit to memory her name and face. All the silver haired teen knew at that point was that she had helped him in many things, things he thought he would never get over.

"I don't know if that's what she meant to do…" Terra's voice was loud and clear now. "Maybe she just didn't want you to suffer, like we did…"

Terra didn't know how to put that into gentler words. '_She's like her… doing things for the greater good forgetting the needs of just one individual. In a way that seemed best but the aftermath. What were you thinking when you left him? Did you even care about his feelings…?_' he thought about it for a while and looked up at the sky. Snow was still falling the cold still didn't take over their bodies. '_No that's not it… it's because the "sky" didn't have anyone to guide him…_ _"Land" had "water" it's only fitting that "sky" have "sun" to help. I hope you know what the two of you are doing…_'

Riku heard the last part of Terra's thought and looked away for awhile. He knew that there were still things that he himself didn't understand, but he wanted to, more than anything. He thought of his friends once more, remembering their faces, for a second he felt upset at the fact that he was here. Still he knew that somehow it wasn't his fault that he was placed within this world.

"I created this world…"

Riku looked at Terra for a moment and titled his head. This 'Terra' was filled with more enigmas than a Heartless by the name of Xehanort, but then again the Heartless had his fair share of secrets.

"I don't think that's what she meant…"

Terra looked at Riku thinking back to his previous comment and chuckled:

"Still the same little kid I met back at the islands. You were optimistic back then, what happened?"

"The darkness… I was right then, we have met before."

"It's all right if you didn't remember me though; I don't hold it against you… You probably should be getting back though…"

"Not if I have a say in it…"

A voice pierced through their hearts and two figures looked around in alarm. Terra brought out 'Two Across' and Riku in turn pulled out 'Way to Dawn'. Something black was starting to form out in the field of snow, and it was beginning to make their hearts sink with fear, and confusion.

"It's been a while, hasn't it, Terra and Riku?"

**A m a t e r a s u **

"Human kidnappings… locating pearls, this wasn't how it was supposed to be." Sora began the same line for the umpteenth time. Roxas looked away; he didn't want to say anything to upset him or me. I didn't understand why Sora couldn't just let it go. It probably had to do with the fact that he was 'light' and I was 'dark'.

"I know, and I'm sorry…" even if my voice sounded cold, I meant every word. Being in this place one had to learn to be cold when one worked with the Alpha Sections. Granted they weren't the most liked group in the whole world, but they were the only ones who let us do as we pleased, so we had to take advantage of it all.

"Thirty kidnappings in the last week…" Roxas said softly looking at us, he was glaring, and he had every right to do so. "Ammi you promised we wouldn't be doing that…"

"I said I'd try my best… I never promised that…" I responded looking away from Sora and Roxas. I heard the sound of feet shuffling across the floor, and something grabbed the collar of the Organization coat that I was wearing. It was the same routine all over again, for once couldn't Sora just give me a break? No, he couldn't, because we were hurting people while Kairi and the others cleaned up the messed we made.

"You agreed you'd help me fix this…" Sora reminded me once more. His eyes seemed to hold some anger in them, but I didn't look into them this time. He told me a couple of days ago that I had changed, not emotionally, but physically at this point. '_My eyes can't hide the truth…_' I thought hearing Sora's heart for a moment. Our bond didn't take a toll on our well being, but our actions did. Sora's breath lingered around me, he was too sweet to be this made, but I knew he was mad.

"Sora…" I could hear Roxas' voice; he was trying to get Sora to relax. Roxas' attitude towards things was beginning to rub off on Sora, and it wasn't a very pleasant experience, it was something me and my Nobody 'brother' could agree on. Sora relaxed his grip, but I could still feel his eyes on me.

We knew for a fact that Riku and Kairi were in the area, we made that assumption about two days ago, something that we agreed on, it was one of the only things we agreed on at this point. The Alpha Sections were beginning to be too much for Sora, Roxas on the other hand could handle it. Sora almost broke down during the last abduction, something that he should never do in front of the Alpha Section soldiers. We know for a fact that they're the bad guys, and General Kek was their leader as well as our 'protector' in a sense, and if he found out our cover would be exposed, and the new Organization XIII would not take lightly to traitors.

I felt my body move on its own and before long I felt my arms wrap around Sora, pulling him into an embrace. Sora placed his forehead on my shoulder and I patted him on the back trying to give him soothing words to make his heartache a little easier. I know how he felt when innocent people were thrown into the chaos of darkness, they didn't deserve it, but that was the nature of the world at this point. Roxas held us tightly sighing slightly and looking down at the ground, he didn't know what to say, but his action would be more than enough.

"We'll get through this…" Roxas said letting go of us. Sora released himself from my grip and rubbed the back of his head eyeing me strangely from all angles, my face was the center of his attention. "Sora?"

"Hold on Roxas…"

"What are you doing?" I asked, feeling a bit uncomfortable.

"You need a haircut again…" Sora finally answered pulling me through one of the doorways of the guest room. Roxas followed, I could hear him chuckling in the distance.

Sora didn't warn me for the mental link and I found myself falling head first into a room with a black and white checkered table. He sat on a small white chair, and I sat on a small black chair. He snapped his fingers and the chairs along with the table rose into the air, being lifted by color corresponded pedestals. Another figure appeared with a grey pedestal, and matching chair, setting himself on the right hand side of Sora, the Keyblade Master, in-between him and myself.

"Wait… you're cutting my hair at the same time!" I shouted feeling something cold on my skin. My skin was covered in darkness, like a Heartless, and Sora now was coated in white skin with blue eyes. We looked like the original elements of light and darkness now.

"Relax…" Roxas said chuckling. His body was covered in a strange grey color, it was slightly transparent as well, yet he still had the same piercing blue eyes. "So then what's with the meeting, Sora?"

"We have to do something with that Alpha Sections, it's getting out of hand, both of you know that." Sora began placing his hands on the table. I in turn did the same, showing off the clawed hands inherited by the darkness. My form at this point was anything but 'cute', one day I know that I'll transform into this, and Sora will be just like the element by the name of 'Light'.

"The Iris Network…" Roxas and I both responded.

"I did speak to Peepers…" Sora began looking up at the world of in-between within our minds. Roxas snapped his fingers and the scene changed, there was a meadow covered in the light of the twilight. We had trained our minds to create anything, allowing us to synch with each other and form whatever we want into a reality within ones mind.

"Light and Dark… they really went all out with the two of you, they really placed a lot of faith in you two." Roxas said softly cutting off Sora for a moment. "Don't go screwing this up you two, or else I'll kick both of your asses, understood?"

"I'd like to see you try…" I said grinning, showing off the dangerous fangs from my element. Roxas gave a grin of his own and Sora chuckled. In this part of our minds we were really relaxed and collected, it was a good place to reflect and strategize.

"The mayor's working with the Iris Network…" I stated cracking my knuckles for a moment. Sora nodded, we both met the dark skinned woman some time ago in one of the meetings with General Kek.

"They're on the move to the Iris Network…" Roxas said, no doubt he was trying to reconnect with Naminé's own personal link, but her mind had blocked him out once again. "I heard her voice though… I think I'm starting to break through…"

"Or Kairi's remembering…" Sora said softly placing one hand on top of the other. He looks up at me as if trying to read my mind, but I knew it was that same burning question, 'what about Riku?' To be honest I haven't been able to get in contact with Riku, nor have I wanted too at this point.

"We should get moving if that's the case then…" I said softly looking down at the checkered table. "I still don't know what they're planning to do with the humans of this world…"

"It's the Alpha Sections, they'll do as they please…" Roxas said disappearing from view.

"Yeah, but who's pulling the strings on them…" Sora asked looking at me; for once I didn't have an answer.

"Sora… you look so much like that guy, from my memories, it's hard not to see it…"

Up until recent memories have been flooding in and out of my head, it's like someone's planting them there on purpose, the man known as Terra was being replaced by someone else.

**T e r r a **

"Riku! MOVE!" I shouted watching Xehanort project a Blizzard spell from his left hand. Shards of the frozen element moved through the air, and Riku outstretched his hand forming a familiar shield attack. Xehanort smirked and brought out his Keyblade with his other hand and beckoned us to move forward.

Riku stepped forward twirling 'Way to Dawn' for a moment. 'Two Across' would hold up for a while, until then I might as well fight with the other Keyblade. I pulled out the weapon that didn't hold the keychain, and Xehanort laughed, it was a laughter I could never forget, it was that I became infuriated by. Though because of that I couldn't lose myself in my own hatred. '_Be on your guard, Riku…_' and to my surprise he looked back at me nodded.

Xehanort watched the two of us for a moment, he hadn't aged at all, then again this was probably all in my mind, and things in the mind don't age, especially not someone like him. Snow was still falling, but the cold was the least thing on my mind. Xehanort moved first splitting himself into two, him and his apprentice. Even in my own mind I felt like I wasn't safe from this. The Dark Master moved with a burst of sudden speed and Riku barely had enough time to move back, a strange aura absorbed most of the impact, but it was still enough to push the silver haired teen back.

I moved through the attack and raised the fake Keyblade high into the air. The black soldier moved through the area, and connected his weapon with my own. '_Riku take this guy, I'll go after Xehanort!_' I pushed his weapon back and we both landed on the ground, opposite of one another. The apprentice moved quickly on the snow and before long I felt something knock me off my feet, a Firaga spell hit me straight in the chest. I looked up from the ground and noticed that Riku stood over me ready to fight the apprentice.

"Go…" Riku said looking back at me for a moment. I could hear the apprentice chuckle for a moment as Riku ran forward, ready to attack the enemy. I picked myself up hastily and moved through the snow, and there I found myself face to face with Xehanort.

"Even in this place, you still somehow manage to search for me…" the old man said cackling. He didn't seem impressed, then again he almost never was. "That's right Terra, let hate keep you alive…"

I growled gripping the handle of the fake Keyblade. I ran forward, not thinking twice about my actions and as I moved the weapon to the side, he blocked it with ease. '_Focus… and relax…_' I thought hearing Riku's voice in my mind, he chuckled. '_You're better than him, I know you are…_' that was enough to make me smile for a moment. Xehanort jumped back and moved his Keyblade in front of him. I ran forward and jumped into the air, he disappeared from my view and caught my right arm in midair. I relaxed my muscles for a moment and tried to think of a way out. I could feel the burning grasp he placed on my arm even through the armor it had.

He summoned some of the power that he had and I found myself launched into the snow, but this time using the fake weapon I managed to absorb most of the damage the fall would've done to me.

Riku jumped back avoiding another Blizzaga spell from the helmet covered soldier. He moved through the snow letting a Firaga spell wrap around shi Keyblade, letting the snow around him melt, hopefully he was thinking that the wet atmosphere would give him the advantage. Something caught out attention though, up I the clouded sky some parts of the different colored sky vapors began to open up letting the sky pierce through. At the same time there was a solar eclipse, maybe this was a bad omen. What am I saying it was a bad omen from the start when Ignis decided to show up in here.

"Face it, you can't get rid of me…" Ignis Xehanort began. He blocked another attack and shot a Blizzard, a spun to the side, but my right hand suffered most of the spell. "What's wrong Terra? You aren't acting like your usual self…" his amber eyes looked at me, and then to something in the distance. "That's why; huh I never thought you'd protect someone other than your _friend_."

'_Be on your guard, Riku, Ignis might try something on you…_' I looked back at Riku, the apprentice had stopped attacking, and the two of them were just staring at one another, waiting to see who would strike first. '_I know…_' I could hear Riku's voice in my mind, '_My heart's feeling heavy Terra, don't give into the hate. It'll make you just as bad as him._' That was the same thing that Aqua had once said long ago, funny how those words would come back.

The apprentice moved forward, and Riku ran with the same amount of speed. Ignis watched as the helmet from his little henchman came flying off. The two of them were panting, and Riku grinned noticing that his opponent had let his guard down for a while. I couldn't see his face from where I was standing, the only one who had seen him face to face like that was myself, and Ventus at one point in time. The young apprentice laughed and Riku growled, it wasn't the reaction that he was expecting.

"It took the others a longer time to knock this off of my head…" he said picking up his helmet with one of his gloved hands. "Congratulations, Riku Fonovi." Riku stepped no doubt getting a good look at the face, but if this truly was all in my head then that would mean that…

'_How can fight with all that hair in his eyes…?_' I chuckled hearing Riku's thoughts for a moment. Xehanort cracked a small smile, but he was probably thinking about something else. I was starting to lose grip within my mind, the snow was starting to melt, and it soon became colder, Xehanort was starting to take over as much as I hated to admit it. '_Terra let me take over…_'

"No…" I growled. "This is my fight, not yours…" I responded coldly noticing the glare in Riku's expression. At that moment I noticed that the apprentice placed his helmet over his head, and walked back to Master Xehanort. I couldn't move my right hand; it felt numb to the core.

"I'll leave you a gift before I go…"

I watched as Xehanort moved through the area, it seemed like he was hovering. My legs felt numb, I froze up for a second. A second was all that it took for something to happen. In second a battle could be lost, or it could be something victorious. '_Move Riku, move!_' he tried to move but the fear in his heart took over. I summoned whatever light I had within me, and found the strength to move once more. I pushed the apprentice back as he reacted to my sudden movement, and he stepped down for a moment. Riku was several feet away, and all I could do was try and reach him before Xehanort did. The snow was starting to melt rapidly, and the meadow was becoming a wasteland. The eclipse was slowly starting to move back to its regular position in the sky.

Riku took in a deep breath and brought 'Way to Dawn' forward ready to strike Xehanort with everything he had. Master Xehanort stopped; he knew that I had moved forward again. Riku took the chance to charge forward seeing as how Master Xehanort was distracted. Ignis Xehanort moved his weapon, and blocked Riku's attack with ease, knocking him backwards. I ran forward and Xehanort brought his Keyblade forward, luckily the only thing that it hit was the ice that covered my hand and the handle of the fake Keyblade. Shards of ice began to chip away, and I dismissed the fake Keyblade, pulling 'Two Across'.

"Things should be interesting now…" Master Xehanort said giving a large toothy grin, his apprentice appeared from the air, and landed at his master's side.

"Glad you think so…" Riku said grinning for a moment.

With that the fight started all over again…

**With King Mickey **

The young replica went on ahead, racing with Goofy's son Max, leaving the _adults_ to conduct business of their own. Ames watched the replica disappear into the crowd of people, she was lost in thought, as was King Mickey. Donald looked at some of the food stands around him, they looked delicious, but too expensive for his taste. Goofy on the other hand was content with an ice-cream he had purchased not that long ago. King Mickey looked up at the silver haired Memory Witch before speaking with her once more.

"How has the replica been?" he asked watching the young Memory Witch smile for a moment. He knew for a fact that she cared for him on a more emotional level than Shimasax did.

"He's doing fine, the fake memories don't pose a threat for right now, and if they did, he hides them very well… I'm thinking of blocking those fake memories for a while, just until he ages a bit more." Ames said noticing the confused expressions on Goofy and Donald's faces. "It'll be better that way, I'll do it once he's asleep tonight, I don't want those…" she noticed that King Mickey was going to say something.

"I know that you care for him a great deal, but doing that might make him withdraw, it's a double edge sword, Ames." The wise king said looking straight ahead on their route to the hotel. "I'm sure he's aware of them, he's a bright boy, just like Terra, I'm sure you know that."

"Yeah the _Chilly Academic_ created Abedo in Terra's likeness, but his hearts and soul are completely different. Sure they may act the same at some points but they're very different, you'll see what I mean when we get to the hotel." Ames said smiling for a moment.

In the distance Abedo and Max stopped at the foot of the doorway already peering into entrance of the room. Abedo pulled out a key and smiled, unlocking the entrance and walking inside. Max was a very fast individual, no wonder he was training to be like his father. Abedo was slightly faster than his original counterpart, but then again Shimasax had wanted him to be the better Terra. The replica traversed across the wooden floors, and noticed that the kitchen was left the same way it was some time ago.

"Terra?" Abedo called out setting the room keys on the black and white checkered table. Max tilted his head as Abedo told him to wait right there. The replica moved through the kitchen expecting to find Terra somewhere close to the fridge, but his disappointment no avail. Time moved relatively quickly in this world, so it was still hard getting use to it all. What felt like two days of walking was a week in this world. '_I knew we should've hurried up faster…_' he thought moving out of the kitchen, grabbing an apple. He tossed one to Max and Max followed him deeper into the rooms.

Both of the young teens stopped in their tracks as they noticed something lying on the floor. Max rushed over immediately picking up half of the torso of the fallen man with brown hair. He looks like he was in pain of some sort; something was raging on in his mind. Abedo helped the son of George Geef Goof carry the unconscious Terra into another room. They both held expressions of fear and confusion; this wasn't a common scene at all for the two of them. The young replica paused slightly at Terra's room and shook his head forcing the door open.

"I had a feeling we should've hurried up…" Max said pulling out clean sheets from the closet of the room. "…I should've told my father a while ago."

"I doubt it would've made a difference, he's been like this for a while now…" the replica said gently placing Terra on his bed. "I don't want her to worry though…" the replica said softly looking back at Max. "Stalling won't help us at all, will it?" he asked, and Max shook his head. Abedo sat down, leaning against the wall of the room. "What could've caused this though?"

"Your guess is as good as mines…" Max suggested sitting down next to his companion. "Probably King Mickey can help us with this…" the anthropomorphic dog said looking up at the ceiling. "It's a shame though King Mickey was looking forward to talking with this Terra guy."

Max lifted his head hearing a sudden noise enter the area. His ears picked up the faint noise of people, one was female and the others were male. '_That's them…_' he thought getting up and dusting himself off. He looked back at Abedo and then to Terra:

"I'll notify them you stay here in case if… well you know."

Abedo nodded and watched as Max quietly slipped out of the room. Abedo stood up and looked at the expression on Terra's face. He was fighting something in his mind. '_But what?_' Abedo wanted to know what caused his original self to slowly slip away from consciousness.

"When…?"

The replica could hear the worried expression in the young Memory Witch's voice. Max explained that the past Keyblade wielder most have lost consciousness sometime ago, not recently. Donald and Goofy were the first to arrive on the scene, they walked in slowly so as not to make so much noise.

"Terra…"

Abedo did his best not to look at the Memory Witch, he knew that she was hurting on the inside, and the expression on her face would just about break his heart. He didn't hear her move across through the room, he didn't feel her presence when she stood beside him, but he felt the embrace that she gave him, and he held her for a while. Abedo looked past Ames' shoulder, watching Terra's expression change once more; he looked relaxed for a moment. King Mickey placed a gentle hand on Terra's forehead, pushing back several strands of hair, he seemed a bit relieved. The young replica patted Ames Diaz on the back, gently reassuring her that tings were going to be all right.

The Memory Witch was worried, but that was only one of the very reasons as to why she was clinging to the young replica. She was searching through the mind of the replica trying to see if she could find a doorway into Terra's mind from there, but she found nothing. There was a sinister darkness preventing her from trying to wake her good friend. '_…Then my other will have to do it for me, but from her side…_' she thought growling for a moment. Abedo noticed the change of mood, feeling a tight grasp on the back of his shirt.

"Please Ames, relax…" the replica mustered enough courage to press his lips against her ear.

**With Vieh and the others **

Vieh watched as the others moved about within the Akuda Bar. The smell of cigarettes and alcohol started to play around with his sense, and for a while he felt as though he had no care in the world. Kairi picked up the silver hound and looked back at Aqua, the wiser teen smiled and placed a hand on Vieh's head. Ven was somewhere deeper inside the bar, probably looking for some form of entertainment. Jade and Pey'j had gone up ahead on the second floor of the bar to search for that 'Peepers' character.

"At least the little guy looks happy…" Vieh heard Aqua say in a slightly cheerful tone.

Several minutes ago they had arrived here on the pedestrian district, Riku looked like he was in pain while he dreamt, and Vieh could see the scene played out before his eyes. It was hard for the silver haired hound to keep a straight face knowing that his master was going through a terrible ordeal, yet out of that Riku was able to keep a glimmer of hope alive, through Terra and from another individual.

He watched carefully, Aqua noticed the conscientious amber eyes that traced her movement and wrinkled her nose in amusement. Kairi suggested that Aqua and Ven join her while she took Vieh out from some fresh air. Within moments the hound noticed the familiar looking blonde walk toward grinning. He pulled out a small sphere, it was pearl he had won in a game. Aqua and Kairi titled their heads, and Vieh barked wagging his tail slightly. They all knew that pearls could pay for the items needed to help them move across the planet of Hyllis. They were mostly used at the Mamago Garage for hovercraft parts.

Moe the bartender watched the three teens walk off with the silver furred hound. Through his own animal instinct he could tell that Vieh was troubled by something, and sighed cleaning one of the drinking glasses. He heard a couple of voices upstairs, one was Jade's and the other one was of the man named Peepers. '_Hopefully Jade has the skill to play that game…_' the humanoid bull thought, hoping that Jade would win the game. '_I knew that girl was special from the first moment I saw her…_' he thought back and smiled, she was like family to most of the town people in Hyllis.

Outside it was fairly quiet, people walked about, and various street performers did their act, that was one way of getting by day by day. Aqua scanned the streets noticing several men wearing tights and singing a sort of tune that caught her attention. Ven bumped into Aqua and looked at what caught her attention. He chuckled and noticed a teen with brown curly hair, he was the main center of attention, most of the girls cheered for him as he began to do his routine, but it wasn't part of the act judging by the expression of the other dancers. One of the dancers curled a visible fist, but someone from the same group held the male teen back, a couple of the other just chuckled.

"Dancing fruits…" Ven muttered under his breath.

"Even if they are…" Aqua began smiling for a moment. "They're very well trained, especially the one in the middle."

Ven agreed but that was all. Kairi and Vieh watched the performance as well sitting on a slightly desolated bench some several inches away. Vieh noticed the patterns on the ground, all made of cobblestone and concrete, and the house looked fairly simple. He wasn't interested in the dance but the smells around him. He kept picking up several smells whichever way he turned, one of charcoal, one of the sea, another of flowers, sea-salt, one of nectarines, and the last one was very faint, it smelled of damp earth.

"What's on your mind, Vieh?" Kairi asked placing the hound beside her. The young Princess of Heart knew of course that the well being of Riku was on the hounds mind, it was on everyone's mind. Vieh sighed, moving his lips this time letting the air escape him for a moment and he breathed in, trying to find words to say. The young red haired teen placed a gentle hand on the hound and smiled. Vieh knew she was letting him take his time in speaking.

The silver hound's ear perked up and Kairi looked off into the distance. The slightly taller female with blue hair had just finished hitting the blonde haired individual on the back of the head. Ven wrinkled his nose and rubbed his head with both of his hands. Aqua had a faint blush on her cheeks. '_Jeez Ven, real smooth…_' Kairi thought smiling for a while. Vieh chuckled and thought back to something that had surfaced in Riku's memories.

'_I could never see, I could never know/ The place she's taken me, I could never own/ I'm choking everyday, drowning slowly with/ Everything that is inside of her life_…' Vieh thought thinking back to a certain song she had played for him to ease his nerves.

_"You've got all the time in the world!" Riku said outstretching his hands to give a feeling of emphasize. "Why don't you use it?" he asked her softly. She shrugged her shoulders and he shook his head. "Well you have to start using it!" he said sighing for a moment. Right now it was like talking to a child, well sort of anyway… _

Vieh hopped down the wooden bench and looked back up at Kairi with melancholy amber eyes. She was about to ask him the question he had an answer to, and he held his breath for a moment. The young Princess of Heart paused for a moment and used both of her hands to scratch the sides of his neck. The silver hound smiled and turned his head around, starting off into a small opening of people.

"I'll meet you at the Akuda Bar, by the entrance; I'm just going to clear my head…" Kairi noticed at this time that he used his mouth to speak with her. '_Don't do anything you'll regret, Vieh…_' she thought and tried to smile with the same kind of enthusiasm.

"All right then Vieh, but just don't stray off too far, okay?" Her voice did reach him as he started to walk past Ven and Aqua; they each exchanged glances with Riku's small sliver wolf and then looked back at Kairi with the same confused expression.

_"You can't run away from people who care about you…" Riku said staring out into the window pane. "They've given up so much to do what it is that they do… for the people they care about…"_

"I'll find her for you Riku, maybe she can help you…" the silver hound thought starting to run through the area, letting his paws guide him to where ever he felt he should go. People twice his size watched him with curious eyes, trying to see where he was going, but that was something best left unknown, he at this point didn't know what drove him to do what he did. '_It's because I've grown attached to boy, what joy…_' he thought stopping shortly at the way he worded his thoughts. '_Rhymes…?_' he thought and laughed to himself, he hadn't spoken in rhymes sense he had been produced within the mind of Riku during his imprisonment within Master Xehanort's mind.

_"Yeah well… Keep that smile in your memory… for me… when…" she felt Riku hug her, and she paused for a moment, hugging him back. "When I can't remember…" Amaterasu said letting the last words fall into a whisper._

The memories didn't make him feel confused; if anything they soothed his thoughts, reassuring him that he was doing the right thing in trying to search for the elusive girl by the name of Amaterasu. Within his own being he knew that she was somewhere in this world with the other individual by the name of Sora, the Chosen One.

**Soulless Organization XIII **

"Have you any news to report, Xehart?" the Superior asked. Xehart, the sitar wielding individual looked at the one in charge, and truthfully answered, the Superior wasn't fazed by the negative news, in fact he welcomed it. '_Things are going according to plan then, thank you very much _ _Ames__, you have no idea how this helps at all,_' he thought and sighed in relief. "What of Number VIII's report?" he asked.

The young sitar wielder paused for a moment and reflected on what he should say. He didn't want to get Xejicka _the Flurry of the Dancing Flames_, in trouble with the one in charge. The Superior watched the green eyed man with a relaxed expression, he had all the time in the world as did the rest of the organization he commanded.

"She has nothing to report, sir." Xehart said in an upbeat tune. The Superior gave a small smile, one that on Xian had seen from time to time, she was after all his right hand person. Another woman by the name of Xumyi was sitting beside Xehart, _the Melodious Nocturne_. She discarded the eye patch that she frequently wore, and removed the band that kept her hair in place, letting her hair be subject to gravity, and allowing the grey streaks to be visible, strangely enough she was displaying serious yellow eyes.

"I have nothing to report, Superior." Number II, Xumyi, said in a very serious manner. It was rare for her to act like that, but there had been a kink in their previous plans.

"Other than the fact that we have two unnamed members within Organization XIII, I'd things are going _quiet well_," Xian, _the Lunar Diviner_, responded chuckling for a moment. Xehart and another member with the nickname _the Gambler of Fate_ noticed the large canine like fangs that were fairly visible from her expression.

"What says you, number X?" Xian asked. The thirty year old man fiddled with a couple of cards in his hand, and made them disappear as if by magic. He watched the blue hair individual taking into account that she looked pleasing to the eyes, other times she was in a _rotten_ mood, or out barking orders to the other members. "Number X?" she called out again impatiently this time.

"Right, right…" he chuckled and shook his head. "Well to be utterly honest with all of you lot, nothing has shown up at all… Ever since what Xejicka said about the death of those two, things have been going our way, wouldn't you agree, number 44?"

All eyes were directed to the attention very familiar looking individual. The clone grinned, something someone of his facial feature should probably refrain from doing so. This clone was something that Shimasax had conducted before his death he was the product of _great_ _genius_, as the former _Chilly Academic_ once said.

"I agree wholeheartedly on that, Cluckxy." Clone number 44 said nodding for a moment.

"So far Xichellem and her group are doing fine…" Number III said getting the attention of his group suddenly. "Weren't they assigned for the mission at Hyllis as well, Superior?"

"They'll be under the command of the two new recruits, don't worry Xana… the one Xian thought would pose a hindrance on our mission." Superior said noticing that Number VII flinched as he mentioned the last part.

"I see…" Xana said pushing back some of his hair. "It'll be no pleasure cruise, I'll tell you that much."

"For right now though…" Xumyi crossed her legs together thinking for a moment. "I think it'd be best if Xejicka went and rendezvoused with them, you know to help them out boss man…" she said laughing nervously.

"If she is up for it…" Xehart said coming to her friend's defense. " Superior, I know you wouldn't…"

"It's not a suggestion; it's an order, Number IX." Superior said leaving the conference room.

"That's the way the cookie crumbles…" Cluckxy said disappearing in a flash of light.

"Man did they sure pick the wrong guy for this one…" Xehart said whining for a moment.

**At the Alpha Section HQ **

"…" the guards looked at one another confused watching the brown haired female try and get past the guarded area. "No civilians allowed…" one of the guards said for the millionth time in a row. "You either have a pass or you don't. Is it really that hard to understand?"

"Ah you must be part of the Alpha Section I take it…" a taller woman walked up alongside the slightly younger teens and smiled slightly. "I was told that you were taking care of two friends of ours…"

"Really…?" one of the guards began to play dumb. "Do you know their names…?"

"Our names weren't given out for safety reasons, but we know they're with our organization." A young member by the name of Xichellem said in a slightly all knowing voice. "I doubt you know their names as well, we're very secretive when it comes to that."

One of the guards made a small noise in surprise and the other growled:

"We've been given specific orders not to let anyone…" all noise ceased when the sound of an opening door caught all of their attention. Xejicka, the taller individual, and Xichellem and her group watched as two figures emerged. One seemed to radiate with light, the other seemed to be darkened with shadows. Xichellem watched in awe as the female made the guards step down with just one glace of her yellow colored eyes. The one with pure blue eyes looked back at the guards, and nudged them along so that they could leave. Xejicka gave a sly grin and looked beside her; she noticed something had slipped through the corridor.

"I take it, it was the superior who ordered this little group…" the brown skinned female said looking back at the other teen with slightly spikier hair. It had been styled in a way almost reminiscent of Xejicka's good friend Xiaga, the deceased _Cloaked Schemer_. "What do you think, Sindihan?" the female asked, tousling her layered hair a bit, it seemed to look more like it was suited for a male, but since it was thick enough it worked with her.

"Huh… I don't know Buia," Sora said grinning at Amaterasu's code name. "You think we should…"

"Please!" it was the young girl known as Xichellem, the excitement was too much for her to bear. She could feel the energy in their hearts, it was mesmerizing. Xichellem knew that they had untold strength just looking at them. "It would be an honor to have you as our squad captain."

"You heard the kid." Xejicka said rubbing the back of her head. "They want you as their captains…"

"Well we were just about to do something…" Sindihan, as was Sora's codename, replied. "There's this little green soul reaper…" he said looking at Xichellem and her group with eager eyes, "we need you guys to coax him out of hiding, we've got a feeling that there's a group of people in there up to no good, if you know what a I mean."

"The one by the slaughterhouse." Amaterasu said, elaborating more on what Sora said. "That's your first assignment, just let the guards from the Alpha Section take you there, if you show them this…" she said pulling out a small object, it was a duplicate copy of the pin both Sora and she wore to indicate they were members of the Alpha Section. "Now go on." With that Xichellem and her small group saluted the two and disappeared down the corridor.

"You guys are pure evil…" Xejicka said laughing. "I like your names though. Good cover ups, better than the traditional 'X' stabbed into them. Name's Xejicka, _the Flurry of the Dancing Flames_, got it memorized?" it made the other two individuals grin for a moment.

"I take it you're going to be with us then?" Amaterasu asked looking back at Sora, his heart was racing with fear. '_Relax Sora she doesn't know it's us…_' she said opening a small mental link with him, for now Roxas as well was trying his best to get him to relax.

"I'm going to go sight seeing though… I think it'd be best if the two of you go and get some fresh air also…" Xejicka could pick up the scent of sea-salt in the area someone was waiting for those two.

**Outside within the district **

Vieh sniffed the air once more, catching to the scent of Heartless and beaches, somewhere in the frenzy the faint scent of flowers could be made out. Two figures caught his eyes, both wearing similar black coats, even in the warm weather of this planet. He stalked them silently hearing them converse among themselves:

"What if she…?!" one of them began to frantically mumble some things under his breath.

"Sindihan, please get a grip on yourself." The slightly older one began. Vieh crouched a bit, so as not to be seen. The one known as Sindihan had the impression that they were being followed by someone.

"Buia…" Sora was careful not to say her real name for various reasons. Vieh caught their names now, and decided to change his form, taking on his more wolf-looking form. He felt his body snap, as the bones began to expand a bit more, his jaw grew, and the horns started to protrude from the forehead. He looked fierce now, just as Riku had envisioned him to be, but his expression gave him that of a lone wolf for now. He was glad that Buia and Sindihan had chosen a secluded area now; they walked through the crowded city, and past some rural areas, to a small field up in the hills of the pedestrian district.

Vieh stepped forward, not caring if they struck him down. '_I'm doing this for Riku…_' he thought taking in a deep breath. There was an expression of relief in the faces of the two human individuals. Amaterasu felt her heart leap, as did Sora's upon looking at the familiar silver wolf. Vieh looked at them, their scents were masked with hints of darkness, and their eyes seemed to reflect their past selves, but they had been exposed to darkness for so long.

"Vieh…?" Amaterasu asked kneeling down to try and pat the wolf, but he drew back bearing his fangs to the girl. She didn't blame him at all, if she had been a creature she would've done the same time, it was the effect darkness had on the individual.

"…What are you doing here?" Sora asked looking at the amber eyed wolf.

"Riku…" he spoke, using his lips to move this time, showing that he cared about the subject of which he was speaking of. "I know who you are…" the wolf said softly looking away, his ears were drooping, as were his eyes. Amaterasu couldn't help but try and reach out, but Vieh's nature drew her back. Sora moved forward and noticed that Vieh looked up at him with pleading eyes:

"He needs your help, Sora… Amaterasu…"

"We can't Vieh…" Amaterasu began to speak. "If we went out of line…"

Sora filled the wolf in on what had happened and of their 'death' so to speak. The wolf understood the danger they were in should their identity ever be known and he respected it for the time being, but right now he had a duty, and that was to Riku, his master. Amaterasu knew how he felt, as she had noticed the similar feeling with the Heartless that were under her command, but she shook her head once more.

"Please!" the hound howled looking up at the familiar individual. "You… You smell like him! Surely you can do that small favor for me. I'm begging you!" his light amber eyes attracted the young girl for a moment. The silver bundle of fur noticed that strange design of her eyes, the same shade as that of the Heartless, there was no doubt in that creature's mind. He knew why he was drawn to her like that; a faint smell of flowers still lingered on her body. "Even if you aren't her anymore!" Vieh began once more nuzzling the limp hand that fell at the girl's side. "I'm begging you, not as this boy's hound, but as his lingering spirit. I am part of him, and each day that passes by, it pains me. Please, Buia, I am begging you. I'm risking my life speaking to you!"

For once the girl was speechless she didn't know what to day to the slightly tall silver bundle of fur. She had never imagined that Vieh would expose his true form in front of her, and in front of her brother. It did though pain her heart and whatever shred of humanity she had left within her, to realize that the person she still cares for so deeply, was now at the mercy of old darkness.

'_We were foolish…to think he'd be safe, far away from his light…_' she thought looking back at her sibling. He looked up at the sky, and then down to the ground, in a slow motion so that the hound would not detect the slightest hint of mental communication. Buia, as she was known, pulled her hand back from the hound's touch and looked away, her eyes did not hold any remorse now.

"Then you were right, both of you are dead in that sense." The hound spoke bearing his fangs to the girl. He did not waste time moving his mouth, he had no need now. "I'm leaving then. Farewell."

The boy watched as the hound walked away, reverting back to his original form. The sun began to set, setting his fur to shimmer against the twilight, adding more depth to a deep blue color as his paws rested for a second. The blue eyed boy looked back at his sister noticing that she was fighting with herself on what to do.

"Do we act dead then?" he asked her, looking at the horizon. The creature known as Vieh was not to be seen now.

"I don't want too, Sora. But you understand why we do this…" Amaterasu began to speak closing her eyes tightly. "For a second I felt Ignis there, but Riku's safe. _He_ is with him too…"

"That was the darkness speaking to you then?" Sora asked watching her open her eyes. The twilight gave her eyes a sinister color for a moment.

"Yes, but I felt it in my heart. The darkness speaks of so many stories, just as your element does no doubt. But I'm positive that Riku is in good hands. Just trust me on this."

"So we're just bystanders again? Jeez getting used like this isn't fun." Sora said curling a fist as tightly as he could.

"Just one of the many perks of being in Orgy 13," Amaterasu said thinking back to something Xejicka said. "You look like him…" she added looking back at Sora. "Like that guy."

"The one from that new memory of yours?" Sora asked. Something brought him another memory. "We may no longer be ourselves… I guess that's what she meant…"

"You're saying she could see into the future…?" Amaterasu couldn't help but ask.

**A/N:** You know what to do, **_one_** review please!


	9. IX part one

**A/N:** Well you guys it's been a while... a really long time, but somehow I'm getting over my writer's block and well I wanted to do this before the anniversary of when ASAS was completed.  
It's divided into two parts so here's part one!

**Chapter 9: ****Ingressus obviam verum** (One step to the truth)

"Friends, allow me to introduce you to Jade, our new agent. I was hoping you'd make it. Come closer. This is Meï, editing and distribution of our newspaper, Iris." The man in the orange turtleneck, Hahn directed Jade's attention to an anthropomorphic cat with blue fur. The feminine humanoid cat looked up, letting Jade know she acknowledged her. Jade greeted her with kind eyes.

"Nino, radio operator of transmission, and tireless poster sticker…" Nino looked at up Hahn addressed him.

"Hey…" he greeted Jade with a small flick of the wrist and a simple smile. He looked to be roughly a bit older than Jade, with short jet black hair, it was pushed back to due to the thick red headband that he wore.

"On these screens you can see the majority of our correspondence. They operate all the over the universe from more than 13 different systems." Hahn directed Jade's attention to the several screens in front of her. "You already know Peepers, it was his idea to offer you the job. He knew you would complete it successfully." Hahn said looking from the corner of his eyes. The man by the name of Peepers appeared leaning against the railings, holding a cigarette in his hand, he wore his sunglasses even in the dim lit room of the Iris Network.

"The kid's bursting with talent, you've got to be blind not to see it…" old man Peepers said chuckling for a moment.

"Now listen up Jade the events are gaining momentum. A Domz bomb has exploded in the canal. Obviously the Alpha Sections have sealed off the sector. They've embarked everyone there…" Hahn said looking at the holographic images that appeared on the large table in front of them.

"To take care of them, right?" Jade asked. Hahn's looked up down at her with a serious face.

"No hospital has received any victims, Jade." Hahn responded noticing the look of confusion on Jade's expression. Meï and Nino watched as Hahn began to speak once more. "The governor," the image of the female dark skinned chief of Hyllis appeared on the hologram. "She's willing to help us, but her HQ is under surveillance." He paused for a moment and closed his eyes lost in thought for a second:

"You could help us to save these people, Jade." It caught her attention. "Nino, give us a brief on the situation."

"Here's what we know… the victims are kidnapped by Alpha Section agents." He said point the screen as it displayed their recent information on the subject. "They are then taken to the Neutrapills factory. Shuttles are then used to take them to the old slaughterhouse, and from there they are loaded onto military cruisers headed to the moon." With Nino's final words Jade noticed that the image of the moon appeared before her eyes on the holographs.

"We don't know what they're forced to suffer…" the man in the orange turtleneck said. "None of our agents have ever returned from those cursed places. Four days ago we lost contact with Double H in the Neutrapills factory. He was our best agent, and good friend." Jade noticed the sad expression etched in Meï's features, and Nino simply looked away remembering the loss of his good friend. "Double H was supposed to have brought back proof of the Domz traffic. His last photos are terrifying…"

Up on the screen was a strange looking creature built with terrifying muscles, and was slightly taller than two people. The silhouette gave a sinister appearance and it made Jade rethink the whole Iris Network. Still something in her wanted to find out the truth and help the people of her home.

"A spirit eater?" Peepers asked raising his head up to look at the screen better. He hadn't seen a spirit eater recently.

"We need someone to finish the mission Jade. You can refuse…"

"Continue…" Jade responded to Hahn's statement without missing a beat.

"We need proof. One, you get inside the Neutrapills factory. Two, you take pictures of the Alpha Sections and their victims. You'll be in consent contact with Meï, she'll broadcast your photos as quickly as she receives them. People must know the truth…"

"Yeah I'd like to know too…" Jade said honestly. "Like who's telling the truth in all this." She watched as Hahn's pulled something out of his pocket.

"Here's an official city pass. Thanks to the governor. It will open certain doors for you. Good luck…" Jade noticed that all eyes were on her now as he finished his small speech. Jade took the item and looked back at the others. Nino was working on something.

"Jade, I've got an M-disk for you, if you want it. I put it right over there…" he said instructing her where the item was located. "It explains everything in detail…"

Jade walked over to where Nino stood and picked up the M-Disk. '_Wait…The Iris Network has a newspaper, I should probably check it out…_' she thought. '_But that'll wait…_' she thought as she watched the M-Disk reflect some light. She looked up and noticed that Peepers was gone. Jade walked up from where she came out of, taking the M-Disk without saying any goodbyes.

"Jade… You'll need a codename for the articles you publish…" Hahn's voice caught up with her.

"Shauni…" she responded, stopping for a moment, and then disappear within the rotating closet door.

**With Amaterasu and Sora**

"Don't turn your back on him…" Sora responded placing a gentle hand on her shoulder. Roxas was back to his physical, not chained by Sora now, and the young Keyblade Master was all right with that. Roxas looked at Amaterasu with a confused expression and shook his head. Right now Sora wasn't all that paranoid as he was when he saw Xejicka, the good thing was that she didn't recognize their new forms. Amaterasu looked back at the two individuals and gave a sad smiled. '_What do I do now…?_' she thought. '_Should I expose myself… or could I just act as a figment of his memory?_'

"The question you should be asking is _how_…" Roxas said looking at the startled face Amaterasu gave. Roxas looked at her with a serious expression and she looked away. "Fix your mistake Amaterasu, don't try and run away…"

"I'm not running away…"

"_Yes_, you _are_!" both Sora and Roxas said, Roxas anger took over for Sora's tone of voice. The dark skinned girl growled, showing the premature fangs that were beginning to form due to her exposure to the darkness. Her eyes flashed menacingly, but her mind quickly regained control and she apologized.

"You can't just let this go…" Roxas said looking at her once more. In a couple of years he could see her path as plain as day, wandering the night with the last shard of light she had left in her heart. '_That's the path you decided to follow…_' the young little Nobody thought and shook his head. "I'm not one to make decisions, but _do it_." He said in a strict tone getting the girl to flinch a bit.

"Roxas," Sora scolded him, but the dark skinned girl brushed her brother's voice aside taking a moment to let Roxas' words sink in. "Ammi…?" he whispered her nickname and she looked up, Sora was glad to see her yellow eyes turn into gentle remorseful expressions of her soul. "Are you going to…?"

"He's all that I got…"

"You got us…" Roxas pointed up, and Amaterasu smiled, but he understood what she meant.

"So then, how are you going to do this?"

"Well, Sindihan…" she looked at Sora and smiled. "We need go and find Riku…" she said outstretching her hand, watching a dark pillar rise up from the green grass.

Something was moving inside the darkness, and Sora leaned in a bit to try and see what was going to emerge from the pillar of darkness. Roxas watched with curious eyes, Amaterasu was getting better and better at summoning Heartless, such was the power of the being known as 'Dark' from the realm of Kingdom Hearts. A clawed looking manifestation started to make its presence known by grasping the outer edge of the dark portal.

"Beautiful…" Both Sora and Roxas looked at Amaterasu as if she were crazy for saying something dishonest about a Heartless. The head poked out, and the antennae moved about scanning the area in which it was summoned. Amaterasu outstretched her hand, and Heartless felt her palm with the two black antennae, and another clawed hand moved out through the darkness firmly grasping her outstretched hand. She giggled at the soft flesh of the Heartless and the slight cold grasp.

"A Shadow?" Roxas couldn't help but ask. Amaterasu was preoccupied with hugging the small Shadow with all her might. The Heartless didn't object to being held like that, it could smell the darkness in her, and the Heartless felt a little at ease. It didn't take to kindly to the other two individuals. It hissed at Sora as he tried to approach it, and the young Keyblade Master moved back a step and laughed nervously.

"I know what to call you…" Amaterasu cooed, poking the stomach of the small Heartless. "Such a cute name too…" she giggled. It was rare when she did, and the looks plastered on Sora and the Nobody's face said it all. Sora was waiting for her to say the creature's pet name but she never released it. Roxas, the blonde Nobody was waiting patiently and tapped his foot for a moment.

"So what'cha gonna call him?" Sora asked looking at the beady eyed Heartless. The Shadow hissed trying to swipe the grin off of Sora's face. Roxas couldn't help but laugh as his Other was being threatened by a small Heartless.

"I'm going to name him Fooby." She said bluntly and held him out to Sora. "Doesn't he look like a Fooby?"

"What the heck does a Fooby look like?" Sora asked backing away from the Heartless.

"She just made it up…" Roxas said frowning for a moment. "Why couldn't you give it a Latin name or something? That's the gayest name I've ever heard, and for something as scary as a Heartless."

"…Screw you." Amaterasu said sticking out her tongue to the blonde male. "At least it doesn't have an 'X' in its name."

"What?!" Roxas growled and tried to summon a Keyblade from Sora's possession. Fooby leapt out of his master's arm and hissed showing that it was something to be reckoned with. "Say it again!"

"Your…" Amaterasu felt a grin fall on her lips. "Your name sucks…" Sora tried his best to hold Roxas back.

"Stop protecting her you jerk! She…" the blonde growled, knocking his original self backwards. The brown skinned girl stepped in front of Fooby, her pet, and smiled, putting her fists up. '_If he wants to vent… fine with me, I've needed to vent for a while…_' Sora heard that from within his thoughts, he heard her voice, she wanted to get her anger out of the way. Roxas yelled and brought his right fist forward without hesitating. Amaterasu jumped back and watched as Roxas raised his upper lip into a curl of some sort.

"Aw, what's wrong, little Roxie doesn't want to lose to a girl?" she was taunting him.

"I just don't want Sora mad at me when I kick his adopted sister's ass!"

Amaterasu felt a presence behind her, and ducked down narrowly avoiding a spinning kick from the blonde Nobody. Fooby and Sora watched as their two most beloved friends fought over something stupid as a name.

"She's your creator…" Sora said looking down at the Heartless. The two of them watched as Amaterasu fell to the ground. The ex-thirteenth member of Organization XIII had made the young girl draw up blood on her lip. Amaterasu grinned, she was glad to get her anger out of her system. '_No doubt Roxas his having the time of his life…_' she thought picking herself up. Roxas shifted his left leg; he was going to pick it up any second to kick her. She brought up her left arm, and braced herself as the sole of the shoe from the blonde's foot connected with her arm. Amaterasu winced and staggered back looking up at the blue eyes of the Nobody.

She started to laugh and shook her head, Roxas dropped his guard and noticed she had stopped attacking and laughed slightly. The dark skinned girl pulled her left arm back and cradled it for a bit, the pain was starting to catch up with her. Roxas apologized and Amaterasu shook her head, going on to say that it was her fault and she paid the price for doing something so childish.

"I wanted you to snap…" she responded looking up at her Nobody 'brother'. "It's not healthy for Sora to harbor your anger within his body; he's too nice for his own good…"

"It'd be nice if once in a while Sora would use some of that _hate_…" Roxas responded looking at Amaterasu. '_Slowly she won't be able to hide the truth of what she's become…_' the young Nobody thought looking at the small patches of dark brown that remained within the girl's irises. The darkness would soon spread over, giving her the same yellow eyes as the Heartless. '_But that's the path you walk…_' he thought and looked back at Sora.

The newly created Heartless felt its body grow a bit, developing into a Neo Shadow, a larger type of the Shadow Heartless. Amaterasu smiled watching her creation grow in size, and she in turn spread out her hand to welcome it. The Neo Shadow flinched a bit, sensing that its creator harbored the power of wielding Keyblades. It looked up at Roxas and at Sora; it could smell the weak scent of a distinguished Nobody and figured it was the boy with blonde hair. It feared Sora, sensing the pure light within him, how he disliked that light greatly. Amaterasu could sense the uneasiness that the Heartless felt and smiled slightly. The Heartless didn't take kindly to this at all.

"It's all right…" she responded stepping towards the Neo Shadow with her outstretched hand. It gazed into the faint yellow orbs that the young girl almost had. The young girl's eyes were seeking out something, and before the dark creature knew it gripped the girl's hand. A strange but alarming sensation began to slowly enter it as it felt itss fingertips grazed against the skin of its master, and it pulled away in pain as memories began to flood its mind.

"Fooby…?" she called out in alarm.

It was then and there that this Heartless, dubbed 'Fooby' by its master, began to have memories of different emotions it never experienced in its very short life. Some sweet, some bitter, some made it feel confused, it began to understand how his creator felt, he shared her pain now, he was an extension of her soul now.

"I'll help you, Mother…" the Heartless said softly in a gentle tone, despite the menacing features it carried.

**With Ames and King Mickey**

"He'll be fine…" Ames and King Mickey heard those words several times now from the replica known as Abedo. Donald and Max just looked at the two individuals; both of them were lost in thought, and worried about their good friend known as Terra. Max looked up at Abedo, as if telling him to try and rest for a bit. Terra had been unconscious for a while now, and all he could do was mutter the same words:

"Master Xehanort…"

'_It's my fault he's like this… if I didn't ask him to come and help me escape…_' she thought about the events the second time Sora decided to go to Castle Oblivion. '_And he let his rage fuel his drive to go…_' she thought looking down at her hands. The hands of the young female artist created so much destruction with the walls of Castle Oblivion. '_I never should've looked into that artifact…_' she thought looking back to face the worried expression that King Mickey held on his tired face.

"I'm…" she began to choke up, memories of her original self began to interfere with that of her own. "I'm sorry King Mickey, I didn't mean for any of this to-" she just sobbed, forgetting to from words now. "I know how badly you wanted to see Terra, and it's my fault he's like this!" she said causing everyone in the room to jump at the sound of her voice.

All King Mickey could do for her right now, was place a gentle hand on her shoulder, her emotions finally caught up with her, she just couldn't help it. For the young replica it pained him to see her like that, but Max pulled him back from expressing any comforting actions for now, and it pained him deeply in his heart.

"Sometimes, the best thing is to let them just cry it all out…" Max said softly looking at Abedo eyes, he was angry with him for right now. "That's the best thing you can do right now, besides you can't forgive her, she needs to be forgiven by King Mickey, not you."

"I know that…" Abedo said angrily as the two of them walked out from the living room. "But I mean, it just hurts knowing that she's in that kind of pain…" he said looking away from Goofy's son. He thought of something else to talk about:

"Why are you fighting?"

"Because…" Max tried his best to not embarrass himself. "I'm protecting my girlfriend, and my family, and I want to help. So why are you fighting?" he asked.

"I don't really know why…" Abedo said looking away from the carpet, staring off into the window. "I guess it's because… I just want to stay by her side." Terra's replica said softly.

**With Jade and the others**

The small silver hound watched as his master slept, he knew that he wouldn't wake up though, he didn't know when, and it was aching him to known that the person who created him was in so much agony within the confinement of his own mind, he was a prisoner just like how the silver hound had been some time ago. He heard several bed springs creak, and he looked straight into the dark room, he could smell the scent of the islands. '_Kairi…_' the little hound thought and relaxed for a moment. She was speaking to him in gentle whispers.

"Hey Riku… do you remember a couple of days ago, when you asked me if my heart was aching because he was gone? And I asked you the same thing about her? Do you remember? Well Riku, it does hurt, and I know it aches for you too, it feels like you're messing half of yours, like if someone just came up and snatched it from you." The young female Keyblade wielder said, on the verge of tears. "I really wish Sora was here Riku, maybe he could figure out what to do…"

Vieh closed his eyes, she was unaware that he was there curled up on a wooden chair. They were within the southern lighthouse shelter, where all the other children, the ones Jade took care of, were living in. Ven and Aqua were downstairs going over amongst themselves what Jade had said about the Iris Network, and the job they wanted them to do. Pey'j at this point didn't seem all that happy about it, but he wanted to protect Jade, she was after all his niece in the political sense.

"I'm sure they would've come here…"

Vieh heard Ven voice as Aqua was no doubt coming up to the second level of the lighthouse. The floorboards creaked, and Kairi jumped a bit in the dark, afraid to have the others find her crying, she didn't want the others to think she was weak. Vieh's ears perked up in the darkness as it caught voices to soft to be heard with that of a human's.

"You think they went back then?" Aqua's voice was holding some fear. "What if they got caught and…!"

"They're two of the strongest fighters we know Aqua, I doubt they could kill them or something like that." Ven said chuckling. "But still I've been hearing rumors…"

"You too?" she sounded relieved. "Supposedly the only things left from both of them were shredded pieces of their clothing back in the Realm of Darkness."

"That doesn't really mean anything…" Ven said, hearing Aqua sigh in relief once more. "We'll just have to wait and see."

"We can't do anything right now, Riku's our top priority…" Aqua said cutting him off before her had something else to say.

To Vieh, things were silent now, and that meant that they had probably stopped talking, or that they had moved to the top part, which was the top part of the lighthouse itself. He wanted to hear more of the conversation, but they were out of his range, there was too much noise around him now. Something caught his attention, a small light radiated from a familiar object, and Vieh growled protectively. Kairi flinched, almost dropping the little rectangular object in her grasp.

"Vieh…" Kairi began trying to figure out where the growling sound came from, all she knew that in the darkness he was sleeping somewhere to the right side of the room. "I didn't know you were…" she heard him advance on the wooden floor and felt something jump up on the bed.

"Don't touch that, please, put it back where you found it…" Vieh said softly, watching Kairi's right hand move through the darkness, placing the blue object back on the night table. He relaxed for a moment and looked up at the blue eyes of the Princess of Heart; she seemed to be in some sort of emotional suffering. The silver beast knew why and decided not to say anything relating to that matter. He sighed:

"I'm sorry if I startled you." He began to speak.

"Oh, no it's okay Vieh. I shouldn't have snooped around." Kairi said laughing nervously. "You know Vieh…" she began to whisper, just low enough for his ears to pick up. "I can feel them…" Kairi said placing a hand over her heart. "They're here somewhere; I know they are I can feel them…"

At that moment they both felt something stir within them, and their eyes were placed on the sleeping silver haired figure by the name of Riku. He was muttering things in his sleep, as if he was having a conversation with someone.

"She'll come…" that was the only thing audible coming out from his lips.

**With Xichellem and her group**

"Come on…" one group member groaned, watching the young Keyblade wielder look back inside the area. "We're done we have to go back and-!"

There was a loud bang and all the individuals turned around drawing out their Keyblades in unison. The reaper didn't seem too happy about being coaxed out of its hiding place, and it wanted to know what, or rather who, woke it up from its sleep. The first Keyblade wielder to fall was of the one wielding the blade by the name of Spellbinder. A small keychain appeared to be in the grasp of another wielder, as the wielder yelled out a 'Stopra' spell, but the reaper seemed to be too much of a hassle for the young wielder.

**With Sora and Amaterasu**

"Are you sure?" Roxas asked looking up at the white lighthouse. He had the feeling something bad was going to happen, considering nothing good happened at night as far as he was concerned. Sora shrugged his shoulders and watched as Amaterasu created a dark matter around her hands, she was getting ready to scale the wall using the darkness in her. Her Neo Shadow stood beside her looking up at a particular window. He could sniff out the heart that his master was seeking, and he was glad to be of help to his master, Amaterasu, and her 'brother' Sora.

"Be careful Ammi…" both the young Nobody and the original said with a caring voice, and she nodded, giving them a thumbs up. "Keep your link open, just in case, all right?" again she nodded hearing Sora's voice as she started to climb the wall. She was amazed at how the darkness let her hands go through the wall, she was able to grasp something in the dark portals, a strange type of matter, it was solid, almost like a pole. '_I wonder if this is how the Heartless move when they don't hold their form…_'

The Neo Shadow was right beside her, as it disappeared into the wall, letting its eyes become the only visible part, while the rest of the body was a black blob of some sort of goo. Roxas started to advance forward towards the wall, noticing that Amaterasu was having some trouble, her foot slipped on a piece of brick, she had broken concentration on her right hand, and was only kept off the ground by her left hand, and the claw of the Heartless by the name of Fooby.

"Be careful…" the Heartless said growling as it was concentrating on climbing the wall. It brought her right arm back up to the wall, and the dark matter took over her hand once more. They started advancing slowly, trying hard not to make too much noise as they reached the rooms of several people, which meant they were already on the second floor of the lighthouse.

"Yes!" she whispered watching the open window. She could smell a faint scent, similar to sea-salt. '_Vieh…_' she thought gleefully and brought her left hand towards the windowsill, gripping it tightly for dear life. The Neo Shadow moved across the area with ease and looked back at its master as she struggled to climb through the window that was left ajar. The Heartless shook its head watching the dark skinned girl, Amaterasu, land on her knees upon climbing through the window.

She stood up and dusted herself off, rubbing her knees then rubbing her right wrist, using that type of method was slightly painful for those inexperienced with using the darkness. '_Stupid Hojo, he couldn't even teach an experiment right…_' she mentally cursed at the scientist hoping that he was having a horrible time in hell.

"This is him?" Fooby asked hovering over the limp body of Riku Fonovi. She felt her heart beat like a drum as she walked forward, it was getting hard to breathe, pressure was building over her chest. '_Why?_' she asked herself hearing the floorboard creak for a moment. She flinched and looked in the distance, she could see the beast Vieh, sleeping peacefully by a chair. Her eyes scanned the dark room, and she felt her face grow numb for a moment. '_My mp3 player…_' she thought finding herself in front of the wooden night table. Her fingers gently caressed her musical device, and she fought hard to hold back a small giggle.

"…Riku…" she said softly letting the darkness be her legs, she moved through the area without making any sound, and she placed a gentle hand on the cheek of the boy she came to love. Her heart was aching, for the darkness in her was in pain at the fact she was in contact with person she called her 'light'. She finally spoke after what seemed like seconds:

"I want to help, if you'll let me." She whispered, bending down as the two of them were nose to nose. The young girl breathed in his scent, she missed the islands very much, for they had been her second home after all. Her eyes flickered to the side, noticing that the Neo Shadow was moving discreetly towards the sleeping beast. "No." she whispered as the Neo Shadow made eye contact with her.

"…as you wish…" the Heartless muttered and returned to her side once more. It watched Riku with interest, memories were flowing through its mind, they were from its master. It felt something, like a sharp pain in the gut. '_Guilt?_' it asked itself in its mind, and looked into the yellow eyes of Amaterasu. She lost her 'soul' in a sense, this made the young girl part of the Heartless, part of the same darkness they all shared.

"Singulus carmen suscipio…" Amaterasu said softly, into Riku's ear, gentle pushing away single strands of silver hair from his face. At that point her eyes began to glow under the cover of darkness, giving off a faint trace of gold, her Heartless like eyes were fixed on the heart of the sleeping figure.

The young girl found herself in a strange land, covered in dirt, and in ruin, with sand as far as the eye could see. '_His mind?_' she thought looking around. In the distance the sky was beginning to grow dark, a storm was approaching a couple of miles away from what she could tell. She looked at the outfit on her, noticing a long dark robe, with silver markings of some design, just like the one known as Dark wore some time ago. She pushed back her dark brown hair and felt the wind against her skin, she was amazed at the fact that things felt so real within the world. She looked up at the sky, watching a crow soar through the sky. She squinted as the sun began to shine as a cloud moved out of the way of the rays emitting from the sun.

"Follow…" a voice called out, and she turned around in a frenzy, trying to find a body that belonged to the voice. She heard the voice again, but she couldn't seem to pick up a pulse from the body that produced the voice. She closed her eyes, hearing the wind move through the area, and the voice spoke once more in a soft tone, Amaterasu realized this was her voice. "Follow…"

Amaterasu began to move through the area, she noticed that in the distance towards the east and west that patches of snow had not melted yet, the sun wasn't that strong enough to melt the snow in those two areas. As she walked she noticed the crow was following her, and at some points she wondered if she was following the crow. She started to run as the crows cawed once more and she looked off into the distance. '_Where are you?_' she thought looking around as she ran straight ahead through the ruins and the desert looking area. She could hear thunder boom in the distance.

The crow went lower and lower as if showing her the way to the person she sought after. To her these birds were signals of luck, but to others these were signals of death. '_Stop thinking like that…_' she cursed at herself as she followed the black feathered bird, it was a perfect guide. The scenery changed right before her eyes, as she breathed in as she still ran. The first image in her mind, an older looking man was holding a young teenager by the throat, while another man was busy fighting a black suited soldier.

The crow disappeared in an array of feathers as the wind scattered it away. The older man looked to the side watching the feathers dance in the wind. '_It's her…_' he thought bitterly tightening his grip on the young boy. He looked to the side, watching the dark skinned girl. His amber eyes caught her attention and give a menacing grin. He looked at the brown skinned girl, she looked very much like the original element by the name of 'Dark'.

"You decided to show up after all, Dark." The man said, not being bothered with the sudden jerks that the teenager made. "He's dying, because of…"

"Leave him alone!" she yelled pulling out Oblivion. She didn't want to make Way to Night visible at all, something in her own mind told her not too. As Amaterasu pulled out her Keyblade, the black suited soldier stopped his assault on the dark brown haired individual. The one with the strange looking Keyblade manipulated the form his weapon and caught the black suited soldier by surprise, knocking him back a couple of feet away. "What do you want with him?" she asked keeping her eyes locked onto those of the old man.

"I'm not telling you," the old man replied softly.

She shuddered for a moment as she noticed that the boy with silver hair was losing his grip on his own Keyblade. Amaterasu walked forward holding Oblivion tightly in her grasp as to try and overwhelm the older individual to step down. The old man wearing a rather familiar attire let his grip on the boy's throat ease up a bit and Amaterasu took that chance to move quickly. The man launched the silver haired boy towards her, but she purposely moved away not wanting to touch him for the moment.

"Damn you, Xehanort!" Amaterasu yelled out bringing Oblivion forward. The old man, known as Xehanort chuckled at the fact that she remembered his name. With that he brought his own Keyblade forward. A wicked horned lion was at the center of the blade, it was one that Amaterasu could never forget. She pushed it back with as much strength as she could muster and something else caught her attention. "What?"

The older individual with dark brown hair had pierced the dark suited soldier on the shoulder. Such a spectacle was enough to let the figure who called herself 'Dark' to be thrown off guard, and Xehanort took advantage bring his preferred weapon down on her left shoulder. She clutched her shoulder for a moment and dismissed her weapon. She moved her right hand away from her shoulder and felt something snap in her mind. Xehanort jumped back avoiding a lethal claw from his line of view. She had changed now, her appearance that of a Heartless. Things at that point in time seemed to stand still, the air around her began to feel heavier, but the man in front of her felt none of the effects, or so it seemed.

The wind began to pick up a bit and the fragments of dirt began to cloud their vision for a moment, a perfect opportunity for the girl in the dark robes to lunge forward, but her opponent found her out. Not even using that much speed his right hand gripped her left wrist tightly to the point where it would shatter, and he grinned menacingly into the eyes of the heartless like human. The girl in the dark colored robes let out a howl in pain as electricity began to course through her body. That simple howl alerted the dark brown haired individual, and he brought back his rather large Keyblade and felt upon instinct to run forward and help the individual. The old man let the girl go and disappeared from sight.

Something in the back of the older teen's mind began to urge him to keep fighting and it sounded oddly familiar to him. He looked around and noticed that something in the distance was starting to appear through the dark dust that picked up. Amaterasu growled and felt a snarl etch onto her face. She ran forward despite the other individual's plea for her to wait. The old man known as Xehanort grasped the Keyblade in his hand and watched the angered expression on the girl's face.

"Well Dark, so this is how you look in this new day and age. You still want this back, am I right?"

**In the Realm of Kingdom Hearts**

"Sister, what are you doing?" a pale individual asked. He noticed the dark skinned sibling sitting there motionlessly. Her eyes were closed as her breathing was shallow for a moment.

"Helping her…" she responded rather groggily as if she had been sleeping. "Xehanort was able to get in…"

"You're not suppose to interfere!" the twin answered angrily. "We have better things to do than--…"

"He has something I want, something I lost a long time ago." The figure in the dark robe responded with authority. "Don't lecture me little brother."

The figure in the white robes growled and watched his sibling go into a deep like trance. He noticed a projection form around the strange rotating compass and watched the battle for the remainder of the time.

"Just be careful Big Sister…" he muttered softly. On the screen Amaterasu had stopped in her tracks before charging after Xehanort.

**With Terra and Amaterasu**

'_Let me help?_' she asked herself and noticed something that coursed through her body, whatever it was it seemed rather powerful, but that was only a fraction, or so the young girl sensed.

The figure known as Terra watched for a moment, there were several black butterflies around the young girl, and time seemed to stop all around them. He hadn't not seen Master Xehanort move in a while. The male Keyblade wielder relaxed for a moment, but something in the air was causing pressure, and he could feel the light in his heart start to feel dull, as if it were possible within this strange realm of reality and dream. The dark brown haired figure moved forward and noticed the amber colored eyes of the young girl.

'_She's gone…_' Terra thought bracing himself for what he thought was a random attack, but the girl stayed motionless. Time picked up where it left off and the battle started once more. Xehanort paused for a moment and dismissed his Keyblade noticing the colored eyes of the girl before him. He seemed afraid for some reason, and that was something that even the older teen enjoyed. Terra and the girl moved forward and watched as Master Xehanort flinched a bit, but still his strength did not waiver as he struck the ground with brute force.

Amaterasu jumped back avoiding the flames that came, and noticed that Terra had disappeared from sight. The dark brown haired wielder was in the air attacking the old man with his weapon of choice. Each attack that was blocked created sparks, and no doubt that the aged man was trying to hit the younger wielder with a Thunder based attack. The girl jumped into the air hearing a voice direct her as to what to do, and before long Oblivion connected with the age old Keyblade, and Terra's weapon took another swing at the old man. For right now the blade managed to hit his shoulder.

"We'll do this again some other time…" the man said retreating back. Both Amaterasu and Terra followed after him but after taking several steps the vision of the old man faded away.

"Xehanort…" both of them said with just as much hate.

The pressure around them seemed to change and before long Amaterasu felt something in her heart begin to fade. She blinked for a moment and dropped Oblivion onto the ground. There the Keyblade disappeared back to where ever it came from. Terra noticed the action and looked back at her with a confused look etched onto his face.

"For an illusion of the heart, it's strong…" she said tying to recover from her little episode for a moment and shook her head. The scenery had started to change a bit, and snow began to fall against the desert like battlefield. Her body started to go back to its original state at this point, with the illusion having left the heart of the other two. She could breathe at ease for a while and remembered something. "Riku…"

The silver haired figure had collided with the desert ground a while ago, it seemed that no permanent damage had been done, at least from what the girl could see as she walked towards him. The other dark haired male watched for a moment, pulling his Keyblade out from the earth. '_It's her…_' he thought and looked up to the sky for a moment, as if thanking some unseen figure.

"Terra…" the girl said looking behind her. "Can you come here and help, please?"

The figure known as Terra did as he was told; he knew where he had seen this girl back at Amber Pacific where things had taken root some time ago. '_Our hearts pushed away the illusion because she was able to interrupt his thoughts for a moment,_' he thought walking towards the girl known as Amaterasu and to Riku. He dismissed his weapon and decided to help the young girl with the silver haired teen. Riku felt a pair of hands on his face and he strained to open his eyes for a moment. After what seemed like minutes he found himself staring into the yellow tinged eyes of a young teen.

"She wanted me to come help you, Riku…" Amaterasu said feeling tears run down her cheeks. Riku strained his vision a bit, it was still a bit blurry for him.

"Who…?" was all he could end up saying.

"Amaterasu, your light, who else?" she felt more tears spill down her face.

"Then… why are you crying? Did something happen to her?" something in his mind clicked and he sat upright. "What happened to Ammi? Tell me, what happened to her?!" the teen demanded to know. He winced at such a rash action and clutched his side, he had been dealt heavy blows.

"I can't…" she shook her head. Her heart ached greatly as she clutched her chest with both hands, ignoring the pain from her left shoulder. "She made me promise not to tell you…"

Terra looked away feeling something sting his own heart. With that he seemed to fade away from their sight, he was being called back to reality, as he could hear the distant voices of a male and female person. He gave one last glance; Amaterasu's pained face was the only thing he could remember as he slipped away.

**With King Mickey and the others**

Abedo, the replica of Terra, had moved a bit letting Ames rest against his shoulder. Night had fallen sometime ago and things seemed to be calm, with the exception of their unconscious friend Terra. He watched Terra's sleeping body for a moment and noticed something, a flicker from his eyes, he felt his finger twitch a bit and he wondered whether or not to wake Ames. Of course he wanted to see her smiling face and with that gently woke her up. Terra sat up, gasping for a moment as if he had just had a bad dream and looked around, his vision was hazy for a while.

He flinched a bit, feeling added warmth to his body and felt a pair of hands on his back. It was an embrace from a crying figure. His blue eyes looked back in the distance and looked at his replica, he seemed happy. Terra turned his attention to the crying Soulless and patted her gently on the head, hugging her back for a moment. He tried to calm her down but she wasn't listening, joy had overwhelmed her and that made her embrace a little to close for comfort. Abedo at this point decided that enough was enough and Terra managed to laugh noticing the look of discomfort it had placed on the replica.

The event caused quite a commotion and before long all the other members of the small party had arrived in that one room. Terra's eyes lit up for a moment noticing a familiar figure standing right by his bed. Ames moved away letting Terra get out of bed. His blue eyes were fixed on the figure, the shortest one among them all and before long he found himself hugging the mouse king.

"Your Majesty!" Terra managed to finally say. King Mickey seemed pleased and hugged the familiar figure as well.

Goofy, Donald, and Goofy's son Max seemed relieved noticing the event that was unfolding right before their eyes. Ames was smiling and laughing watching the mouse king and Terra converse about things that seemed as old as time itself. The replica watched them, taking into account the happiness the memory witch displayed at this joyous occasion.

**With Sora and the others**

"You think she was able to do it?" Roxas asked looking at his other for a moment.

Sora stayed quiet for some time, his eyes were closed as he felt the wind that danced across him, the scent was very different, it wasn't him home but he felt like it was. Where ever he had gone he felt as though he left a piece of his heart with the others, and somehow despite that he was on the other side of the playing field, he felt as though he would leave his mark here as well. The thought of Amaterasu crossed into his mind and he opened his eyes, somehow something in his heart said that she was all right.

"Yeah… she's strong Roxas," Sora said softly and gave him a small grin. "Come on let's see what's taking them so long."

The two teens looked up at the lighthouse and gulped for a moment, the drop seemed worse than the climb from what the two of them saw. They wondered for a moment how their sister had even scaled the wall, the Heartless didn't seem that all afraid. Maybe, that was their nature, since the Heartless were those without hearts they didn't fear such things like that. The grass underneath them made a small crunching sound as they stepped back, probably trying to gain speed so they could climb the wall as well.

"You want to try an Aero spell?" Roxas asked looking back at the young Keyblade wielder.

"Yeah, ready when you are." He responded and grinned.

Vieh's ears perked up as he watched the figure who had recently called herself 'Buia' and noticed that Riku's hand moved a bit, he was regaining consciousness, slowly but surely. There was a sound far below them, that much he knew and growled for a moment realizing that something landed on the ground that was near his Master. The Heartless that was there hissed for a moment looking at the entrance of the window.

From what the Keyblade's Chosen One could see his adopted sister was still in a trance of some sort, and things seemed to be taking a small detour. The blonde haired Nobody could see slight tears running down the girl's face and he sighed for a moment and walked towards them. He had a feeling that getting Riku back was going to take a while.

**A/N:** You know what to do _**one**_ review please!


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